Outcome of Respiratory Distress in Neonates with Bubble CPAP at Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of a Tertiary Hospital.

INTRODUCTION: Respiratory distress is one of the commonest problem seen in neonates during admission in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Hyaline Membrane disease, Meconium Aspiration Syndrome, septicemia, congenital pneumonia, Transient Tachypnea of Newborn are the major causes of respiratory distress in neonates. Bubble Continuous Positive Airway Pressure is a non-invasive respiratory support delivered to a spontaneously breathing newborn to maintain lung volume during expiration. The main objective of this study was to observe the outcome of respiratory distress in neonates with Bubble Continuous Positive Airway Pressure.

METHODS: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted at Kathmandu Medical College Teaching Hospital over six months (October 2018 - March 2019) period. All preterm, term and post term babies with respiratory distress were included. Ethical clearance was received from Institutional Review Committee of Kathmandu Medical College and statistical analysis was done with SPSS 19 version.

RESULTS: Sixty three babies with respiratory distress were included in this study with 45 (71%) male predominance. The mean birth weight receiving Bubble Continuous Positive Airway Pressure was 2661.75±84 gms and gestational age was 36.67±3.4 wks. The Bubble Continuous Positive Airway Pressure was started at 8.05±2 hr of life and duration of Bubble Continuous Positive Airway Pressure required for settling respiratory distress was 95.71±3 hrs. Out of 63 babies, improvement of respiratory distress in neonates with Bubble Continuous Positive Airway Pressure was 39 (61%) with confidence interval of 38% to 62% whereas 24 (39%) babies required mechanical ventilation and other modalities.

CONCLUSIONS: This study concludes usefulness of Bubble Continuous Positive Airway Pressure in neonates with respiratory distress.