A retrospective data analysis on prevalence and risk factors for hypothermia among sick neonates at presentation to the neonatal intensive care unit of the Tamale Teaching Hospital.

Neonatal hypothermia, defined as an axillary temperature of <36.5C in a neonate, is common in neonatal intensive care units and is almost universal across all geographic and climatic regions of the world. This is even though environmental temperature is a known risk factor for its occurrence. We conducted a retrospective study in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) to document the prevalence and risk factors associated with hypothermia at presentation to the hospital. The study spanned the period from January 2019 to December 2019 and involved all neonates with axillary temperature documented at the time of admission. The prevalence of neonatal hypothermia in this study was 54.76%. Hypothermia was most common in neonates diagnosed with meconium aspiration syndrome (87/105, 82.86%), prematurity and low birth weight (575/702, 81.91%), and birth asphyxia (347/445, 77.98%). Neonates who were delivered vaginally were less likely to develop hypothermia compared to those delivered via Cesarean section. Inborn neonates (delivered in TTH) were 3.2 times more likely to be hypothermic when compared to those who were delivered at home. Neonates with low birth weight and APGAR scores < 7 at 1 and 5 minutes were more likely to be hypothermic. The dry season was found to be protective against hypothermia when compared to the rainy season. The overall mortality rate was 13.68% and the mortality in the subgroup with hypothermia at presentation was 18.87%. Our study documented a high prevalence of hypothermia with higher rates in neonates requiring intervention at birth. It is therefore crucial for perinatal care providers to adhere to the warm chain precautions around the time of birth.

Paediatric to adult healthcare transition in resource-limited settings: a narrative review.

Background: Ageing into adulthood is challenging at baseline, and doing so with a chronic disease can add increased stress and vulnerability. Worldwide, a substantial care gap exists as children transition from care in a paediatric to adult setting. There is no current consensus on safe and equitable healthcare transition (HCT) for patients with chronic disease in resource-denied settings. Much of the existing literature is specific to HIV care. The objective of this narrative review was to summarise current literature related to adolescent HCT not associated with HIV, in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) and other resource-denied settings, in order to inform equitable health policy strategies. Methods: A literature search was performed using defined search terms in PubMed and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature databases to identify all peer-reviewed studies published until January 2020, pertaining to paediatric to adult HCT for adolescents and young adults with chronic disease in resource-denied settings. Following deduplication, 1111 studies were screened and reviewed by two independent reviewers, of which 10 studies met the inclusion criteria. Resulting studies were included in thematic analysis and narrative synthesis. Results: Twelve subthemes emerged, leading to recommendations which support equitable and age-appropriate adolescent care. Recommendations include (1) improvement of community health education and resilience tools for puberty, reproductive health and mental health comorbidities; (2) strengthening of health systems to create individualised adolescent-responsive policy; (3) incorporation of social and financial resources in the healthcare setting; and (4) formalisation of institution-wide procedures to address community-identified barriers to successful transition. Conclusion: Limitations of existing evidence relate to the paucity of formal policy for paediatric to adult transition in LMICs for patients with childhood-onset conditions, in the absence of a diagnosis of HIV. With a rise in successful treatments for paediatric-onset chronic disease, adolescent health and transition programmes are needed to guide effective health policy and risk reduction for adolescents in resource-denied settings.

Timing and causes of neonatal mortality in Tamale Teaching Hospital, Ghana: A retrospective study.

Neonatal deaths now account for more than two-thirds of all deaths in the first year of life and for about half of all deaths in children under-five years. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts up to 41% of the total burden of neonatal deaths worldwide. Our study aims to describe causes of neonatal mortality and to evaluate predictors of timing of neonatal death at Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH), Ghana. This retrospective study was conducted at TTH located in Northern Ghana. All neonates who died in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) from 2013 to 2017 were included and data was obtained from admission and discharge books and mortality records. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to assess predictors of timing of neonatal death. Out of the 8,377 neonates that were admitted at the NICU during the 5-year study period, 1,126 died, representing a mortality rate of 13.4%. Of those that died, 74.3% died within 6 days. There was an overall downward trend in neonatal mortality over the course of the 5-year study period (18.2% in 2013; 14.3% in 2017). Preterm birth complications (49.6%) and birth asphyxia (21.7%) were the top causes of mortality. Predictors of early death included being born within TTH, birth weight, and having a diagnosis of preterm birth complication or birth asphyxia. Our retrospective study found that almost 3/4 of neonatal deaths were within the first week and these deaths were more likely to be associated with preterm birth complications or birth asphyxia. Most of the deaths occurred in babies born within health facilities, presenting an opportunity to reduce our mortality by improving on quality of care provided during the perinatal period.

Factors Associated with Treatment Outcome of Preterm Babies at Discharge from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the Tamale Teaching Hospital, Ghana.

BACKGROUND: Preterm birth and complications are now the leading cause of death in children under 5 years globally. In Ghana, studies assessing the survival rate of preterm babies and associated factors in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) are limited. Therefore, this study was designed to assess the survival rate and associated factors in this group of babies in a teaching hospital in the Northern Region of Ghana. METHODS: This was a 7-month retrospective descriptive study conducted in the NICU of the Tamale Teaching Hospital, Ghana. It involved review of charts of all preterm babies admitted between 1 March 2017 and 30 September 2017. Data retrieved from all eligible patients was analyzed using Stata version 12.1 software to generate descriptive statistics. Relationship between dependent and independent variables was tested using Pearson chi square. A logistic regression model was estimated to assess determinants of the treatment outcome. RESULTS: The overall survival rate at discharge in this cohort was 60.73%. The survival rate was lowest in the extremely low birth weight group (3/21; 14.3%) and extremely preterm babies (4/20; 20%). Significant association was observed between birth weight (P = 0.0001), gestational age (P = 0.0001), and survival. Preterm babies who were hypothermic at presentation, had respiratory distress syndrome, and had jaundice were 7.2 times (AOR = 7.2; 95%CI = 1.9-28.1; P = 0.004), 10.2 times (AOR = 10.2; 95%CI = 3.7-27.9; P ≤ 0.0001), and 2.9 times (AOR = 2.9; 95%CI = 1.0-8.5; P = 0.045), respectively, more likely to die on admission compared to neonates who did not have these comorbidities. CONCLUSION: We found a high mortality rate in the preterm babies admitted to our unit, and that mortality rate decreased with increasing gestational age and birth weight. A number of neonatal factors, either in isolation or in combination, were significantly associated with in-hospital mortality.