A Retrospective Analysis of Hospitalization Time in Infants with Respiratory Distress Syndrome

Purpose: To describe the hospitalization time of infants with Respiratory Distress Syndrome that are admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Methods: A non-experimental, descriptive, retrospective study was conducted. The population sample consisted in 134 newborns diagnosed with Respiratory Distress Syndrome that were admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at a hospital in Guayaquil, Ecuador during the years 2015 and 2016. The variables: sex, gestational age, weight, type of ventilation, hospitalization time and patient`s status at discharge were analyzed by reviewing patients records on the system. All patients that were transferred to other units, or had incomplete clinical records were excluded of the study. The data was then recollected on Microsoft Excel 2016 and analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis test and Spearman correlation. The significant level was set at p=0.05. Results: 134 newborns were included. 80 (60%) boys and 54 (40%) girls. The mortality rate was 16%. It was evidenced that a bigger proportion of cases with RDS (46%) developed in infants at term. A significant relationship between the gestational age and the hospitalization time was stablished (p=0.014). Infants at term tend to stay less time hospitalized with an average between 4 to 7 days. The type of ventilation most frequently used was the cephalic mask (54.47%) but it was determined that the type of ventilation and hospitalization time also presented a significant relationship. The use of OXIHOOD was directly related with less days of hospitalization with an average between 1 and 7 days (p=0.02). The average hospitalization time in newborns with RDS was stablished between 4 and 7 days (36,57%) with a chance of extending between 8 to 14 days in some cases (27,61%). In the minority of cases (10,44%) the infants were discharged in less than 3 days. Conclusion; It is stablished that the hospitalization time is influenced by the gestational age of the infant and the type of ventilation used.