Prevalence of neonatal morbidity and complications according to birth weight and gestational age of infants from a follow-up service

Abstract

Objective: To estimate of neonatal morbidity and complications according to the birth weight, the gestational age (GA) and classification of the weight / GA in users of a service of Follow-up. Methods: This study was cross-sectional, retrospective, and descriptive-analytic.229 medical register infants that were analyzed divided according to the GA and birth weight. The Qui-square test was used to compare the groups and the significance level considered was α = 0.05. Results: There was a high frequency of births weighing below 1.500 g and GA less than 33 weeks. Among the most frequent morbidities, it was highlighted the occurrence of sepsis (94.9%), respiratory complications (79%), jaundice (69.9%) and anemia (34.5%). Most participants had more than five complications (91.2%) and more than half (61.8%) remained in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit- NICU for more than 20 days. There were statistically significant differences regarding the frequency of the majority of complications, and morbidity in relation to the GA, the weight and classification of weight/GA, with highest prevalence in the GA less than 29 weeks and weight less than 1.000g groups. Final considerations: The birth weight, the gestational age (GA) and classification of the weight / GA have significant influence in the neonatal morbidity and complications. The reduction of births with GA less than 29 weeks and weight less than 1.000g should be the main focus of prevention policies on child health, since they can have a substantially impact on improving the quality of life and population’s health by reducing the occurrence of diseases at short and long term, as well as the need for specialized services.