Factors associated with hospitalization in a pediatric population of rural Tanzania: findings from a retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Despite pediatric acute illnesses being leading causes of death and disability among children, acute and critical care services are not universally available in low-middle income countries, such as Tanzania, even if in this country significant progress has been made in child survival, over the last 20 years. In these countries, the hospital emergency departments may represent the only or the main point of access to health-care services. Thus, the hospitalization rates may reflect both the health system organization and the patients' health status. The purpose of the study is to describe the characteristics of clinical presentations to a pediatric Outpatient Department (OPD) in Tanzania and to identify the predictive factors for hospitalization. METHODS: Retrospective cohort study based on 4,324 accesses in the OPD at Tosamaganga Voluntary Agency Hospital (Tanzania). Data were collected for all 2,810 children (aged 0-13) who accessed the OPD services, within the period 1 January - 30 September 2022. The association between the hospitalization (main outcome) and potential confounding covariates (demographic, socio-contextual and clinical factors) was evaluated using univariate and multivariate logistic regression models. RESULTS: Five hundred three (11.6%) of OPD accesses were hospitalized and 17 (0.4%) died during hospitalization. A higher (p < 0.001) risk of hospitalization was observed for children without health insurance (OR = 3.26), coming from more distant districts (OR = 2.83), not visited by a pediatric trained staff (OR = 3.58), and who accessed for the following conditions: burn/wound (OR = 70.63), cardiovascular (OR = 27.36), constitutional/malnutrition (OR = 62.71), fever (OR = 9.79), gastrointestinal (OR = 8.01), respiratory (OR = 12.86), ingestion/inhalation (OR = 17.00), injury (OR = 6.84). CONCLUSIONS: The higher risk of hospitalization for children without health insurance, and living far from the district capital underline the necessity to promote the implementation of primary care, particularly in small villages, and the establishment of an efficient emergency call and transport system. The observation of lower hospitalization risk for children attended by a pediatric trained staff confirm the necessity of preventing admissions for conditions that could be managed in other health settings, if timely evaluated.

Exploring the use of cluster analysis to assess antibiotic stewardship in critically-ill neonates in a low resource setting.

BACKGROUND: Sepsis is the third leading cause of neonatal death in low and middle-income countries, accounting for one third of all deaths in Ethiopia. A concerning issue is the increasing number of multidrug-resistant microorganisms facilitated by suboptimal antibiotic stewardship. The study aims to identify clusters of newborns switching antibiotic lines for sepsis in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in Ethiopia, and to explore their potential association with sepsis outcomes. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted including all newborns discharged with a diagnosis of probable neonatal sepsis from the St. Luke Catholic Hospital NICU between April and July 2021. The antibiotic management protocol included two lines according to WHO guidelines and a third line based on internal hospital guidelines. In the cluster analysis, the Gower distance was estimated based on the antibiotics employed in the different lines and the duration of each line. Mortality and respiratory distress (RD) were the response variables. RESULTS: In the study period, 456 newborns were admitted to the NICU and 196 (42.8%) had probable neonatal sepsis. Four antibiotic management clusters were identified. Cluster 1 (n = 145, 74.4%) had no antibiotic switches, using only the first line. Cluster 2 (n = 26, 13.3%) had one switch from the first to the second line. Cluster 4 (n = 9, 4.6%) had two switches: from first to second and then to third line. In cluster 3 (n = 15, 7.7%), newborns were switched from ceftriaxone/cloxacillin as second line to off-protocol antibiotics. There were no differences in sex, age, weight on admission or crude mortality between clusters. Cluster 3 included a higher frequency of infants who did not breathe at birth (53.3%, p = 0.011) and that necessitated bag ventilation (46.7%, p = 0.039) compared to the other clusters. CONCLUSIONS: The first antibiotic line failed in one out of four newborns with probable sepsis while third-generation cephalosporins were insufficient in one in ten patients. Cluster analysis can provide valuable insights into antibiotic treatment patterns and their potential implications. This approach may support antibiotic stewardship and aid in contrasting antimicrobial resistance in limited resource settings.

Midwives' Evaluation of a Neonatal Resuscitation in High- and Low-Resource Settings.

Aim: To assess midwives' evaluation of a real-life neonatal resuscitation and their opinion on importance of resuscitation interventions. Methods: Multicenter, multi-country study. Setting: Beira Central Hospital (Mozambique) and Azienda Ospedale-Università di Padova (Italy). Subjects: Sixteen Mozambican midwives and 18 Italian midwives. Interventions: Midwives' assessment was evaluated by using a predefined score, which graded each resuscitation intervention (0-2 points) and summed to a total score for each step (initial steps, bag-mask ventilation, and chest compressions). All scores were compared with referral scores given by two expert neonatologists. Results: Both Mozambican and Italian midwives overestimated their performance regarding of initial steps taken during resuscitation, chest compressions, high-oxygen concentrations (p < 0.01), and underestimated the importance of stimulation (p < 0.05). Mozambicans overestimated suctioning (p < 0.001). Participants agreed with experts about the importance of equipment preparation, using a warmer, drying the newborn, removing wet linen and heart rate assessment. Conclusion: Mozambican and Italian midwives overestimated the performance of a real-life neonatal resuscitation, with heterogeneous evaluation of the importance of several aspects of neonatal resuscitation. These findings may be useful for identifying educational goals.

Coronavirus infection in neonates: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: To summarise currently reported neonatal cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection. METHODS: A search strategy was designed to retrieve all articles published from 1 December 2019 to 12 May 2020, by combining the terms 'coronavirus' OR 'covid' OR 'SARS-CoV-2') AND ('neonat*' OR 'newborn') in the following electronic databases: MEDLINE/Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science, MedRxiv, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Review and the WHO COVID-19 database, with no language restrictions. Quality of studies was evaluated by using a specific tool for assessment of case reports and/or case series. RESULTS: Twenty-six observational studies (18 case reports and 8 case series) with 44 newborns with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection were included in the final analysis. Studies were mainly from China and Italy. Half of neonates had a documented contact with the infected mother and one out of three infected neonates was admitted from home. Median age at diagnosis was 5 days. One out of four neonates was asymptomatic, and the remaining showed mild symptoms typical of acute respiratory infections and/or gastrointestinal symptoms. The majority of neonates were left in spontaneous breathing (room air) and had good prognosis after a median duration of hospitalisation of 10 days. CONCLUSIONS: Most neonates with SARS-CoV-2 infection were asymptomatic or presented mild symptoms, generally were left in spontaneous breathing and had a good prognosis after median 10 days of hospitalisation. Large epidemiological and clinical cohort studies, as well as the implementation of collaborative networks, are needed to improve the understanding of the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection in neonates.

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Evacuation and Care During a Natural Disaster: The Experience of Cyclone Idai in Beira, Mozambique.

Global warming has increased the frequency of natural disasters, such as cyclones. Mozambique is considered one of the most vulnerable countries to extreme weather events. Natural disasters particularly affect vulnerable people, including preterm and critical ill infants of Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs). Literature on NICU evacuations in the case of a natural disaster has been reported in high-resource settings, but it is lacking in low-resource settings. On the 14th of March 2019, a tropical cyclone (Idai) hit Mozambique. This report is a descriptive analysis of the experience of the NICU evacuation and care during and after cyclone Idai at Beira Central Hospital, Beira, Mozambique.

Group B streptococcus late-onset disease,contaminated breast milk and mothers persistently GBS negative: report of 3cases.

BACKGROUND: Human milk is fundamental for its nutritional properties and to protect newborns, but it is not sterile and can sometime transmit bacteria. Few anecdotal cases suggest that breast milk could be a possible source of group B Streptococcus (GBS) late onset disease, although the pathogenesis is not entirely understood. CASE PRESENTATION: We report 3 cases of GBS late onset disease in full-term newborns. Fresh breast milk cultures yielded GBS, but mothers of neonates had no signs of mastitis and remained persistently GBS negative at rectovaginal site. CONCLUSIONS: Breast milk containing group B Streptococcus can be a risk factor for late onset disease. The persistent negative maternal GBS status supports the assumption that newborns, colonised in the throat, could be the initial source of GBS, while the mammary gland could act as a GBS replication site. It is unclear whether a low bacterial load may represent only contamination rather than true milk infection.

Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Monitoring, Superior Vena Cava Flow, and Neurodevelopmental Outcome at 2 years in a Cohort of Very Low-Birth-Weight Infants.

Objective We aimed at assessing the association between superior vena cava flow (SVCf), regional (cerebral) tissue oxygen saturation (rSO2), and cerebral fractional oxygen extraction (CFOE) during the first 48 hours of life and 2-years neurodevelopmental outcome of very low-birth-weight infants (VLBW). Methods We prospectively studied 60 VLBW infants admitted to our neonatal intensive care unit; rSO2 was continuously monitored with near-infrared spectroscopy during the first 48 hours of life, SVCf was measured at 4 to 6, 12, 24, and 48 hours, and CFOE was calculated. Neurodevelopmental outcome was assessed at 24 months corrected age. Results The mean gestational age at birth was 27.9 weeks (standard deviation: 2.4); 8 infants died in the first 3 months of life, 6 were lost to follow-up, 46 survived and were followed up. At 24 months, 6 (13%) and 7 (15.2%) infants developed minor and major sequelae, respectively. Infants who died had higher CFOE (p < 0.001) and lower SVCf (p < 0.001) than infants surviving with sequelae. In turn, these had higher SVCf between 24 and 48 hours than those without sequelae (p < 0.001). Conclusion SVCf, rSO2, and CFOE patterns in the first days of life suggest cerebral hyperperfusion, related to loss of autoregulation and/or use of inotropic drugs, as a potential mechanism of cerebral injury.