A Study on Incidence, Pattern of Clinical Features, Laboratory Abnormalities and Outcome of Neonatal Polycythaemia in a Tertiary Care Hospital, Odisha, India

Introduction: Neonatal polycythaemia is a commonly encountered morbidity and mortality among neonates admitted to neonatal care units and sick newborn care units. Most affected infants have no clinical symptoms and signs, but neonates may present with lethargy, poor feeding, plethora, cyanosis and jaundice within 12-72 hrs. Aim: To find out the incidence and clinical manifestations of neonatal polycythaemia along with detection of disease by laboratory abnormalities. Materials and Methods: This was a hospital-based, prospective, observational study conducted in the Neonatal Care Unit of Sriram Chandra Bhanja Medical College, Eastern Odisha, India, in 1760 neonates, from October 2018 to September 2020. All neonates admitted through Outdoor and Emergency were included in this study irrespective of gestation, birth weight, maturity and mode of delivery with haematocrit >65% at 12 hours of life. These polycythaemic babies were further categorised on the basis of maturity, gestational age, birth weight, gender and the clinical features, laboratory abnormalities were noted, Partial Exchange Transfusion (PET) when required was done through central route, the umbilical venous catheter was used for withdrawing blood while same amount of normal saline was replaced through a peripheral vein, and in asymptomatic cases additional fluid of 20 mL/kg was added to the daily fluid requirements either through enteral or parenteral route and outcomes were noted. Short-term outcome at 48 hours was measured by decreasing haematocrit with improvement of signs and symptoms. Chi-square test was employed to analyse the collected data using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 20.0. The p-value