Frequency of Various Risk Factors for Meconium Aspiration Syndrome

Objective: To study the frequency of various factor leading to meconium aspiration syndrome. Material & Method: This present descriptive cross sectional study was carried out at Department of Pediatrics Medicine Nishtar Hospital Multan. for 6 months i.e. from October 8, 2017 to April 8, 2018. The non-probability, consecutive sampling technique was used. Newborns having staining of vocal cords and respiratory distress were included in this study. ABG and X ray Chest was done in all neonates. Factors like, Post-term pregnancy, IUGR, thick meconium, low APGAR score at 1 and 5 minutes were noted. All the collected data was entered and analyzed on SPSS version 23. Chi square and T test were used to check significant relation of risk factors with meconium aspiration syndrome. P value of 0,05 was consider significant. Results : Among total enrolled 150 babies, the mean age of babies was 37.37±18.96 hours, the male to female ratio of the babies was 1.03:1. The mean maternal age was 28.85±6.602 years. The thick meconium was observed in 89(59.33%) patients, 79(52.7%) patients went through vaginal delivery, postdate pregnancy was noted in 68(45.3%) patients, IUGR was observed in 52(34.7%) patients and poor APGAR score at 1 min was noted in 79(52.7%) patients. Conclusion: The observations of our study revealed that Meconium aspiration syndrome has significant relation with maternal age(P value 0.000), postdated pregnancy(P Value 0.001), IUGR (P value 0.021), poor APGAR score at 5 minutes( P value 0.034), and thick meconium(P value 0.000). Keywords: Postdate, Meconium  Aspiration , Syndrome, APGAR, Pregnancy DOI : 10.7176/JMPB/62-05 Publication date: December 31 st 2019