Effect of Admission Hypothermia on Short- term and Long-term Outcomes in Neonates Admitted at a Tertiary Care Hospital

Introduction: Neonatal hypothermia is an abnormal thermal state in which body temperature drops below 36.5°C leading to adverse clinical outcomes caused due to prematurity of the neonate or severe infection. Since, the outcome of hypothermia is not immediately detected, it relatively gets neglected by the health care provider. Aim: To investigate the effect of admission hypothermia on short-term and long-term outcomes in neonates admitted at a tertiary care hospital. Materials and Methods: The descriptive study was conducted on 189 neonates with admission hypothermia which were further grouped into various grades of hypothermia and were followed-up to determine the outcome. The study population was subjected to routine investigations as per protocol. All neonates were screened by Ultrasonography (USG) cranium, 2D Echocardiogram (2D ECHO) and Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) screening. At each follow-up they underwent various neurological examination at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of age, neurodevelopment assessment using DAS II at one year of age, growth assessment (detailed anthropometry) and developmental milestones, nutritional assessment (breastfeeding or weaning), retinopathy of prematurity screening at three weeks. At 12 months of age, all the babies were assessed using Developmental Assessment scale for Indian infants. The data was analysed by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 21.0 for data computation, p=value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: Two third (63.5%) of the neonates admitted in the NICU with admission hypothermia were males. Overall, 63% of admitted neonates with hypothermia were low-birth weight. Among the short-term outcome in neonates the most common was the Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS,81%). Most common combination of the short-term outcome were RDS+Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA)+Sepsis (n=6) and RDS+PDA+ROP Grade II (n=4), and RDS+Intraventricular Haemorrhage (IVH)+Sepsis (n=2). All the neonates 4(100%) who were extremely preterm developed RDS compared to other neonates. RDS was cause of death in 4 hypothermic neonates. The mean development age using DAS II was 11.8 months. The mean development quotient was 94. Conclusion: The present observational study demonstrates a relationship between admission hypothermia and the type of neonatal morbidity and mortality. Gestational age carried a significant relationship with the short-term outcome like RDS in terms of developing co-morbidities and their survivability but had a limited role in development of long-term outcome. Routine screening of temperature and early intervention prevents the development of hypothermia thus preventing short-term complications. There is a need to create awareness among health professionals about the dangers of hypothermia so that early intervention could be undertaken to reduce its complications.