Publication:

Time to recovery from asphyxia and its predictors among newborns admitted to neonatal intensive care units at public hospitals in North Shoa, Amhara region, Ethiopia

Background Birth asphyxia is a cause of early neonatal mortality worldwide. Similarly, the burden of birth asphyxia in Ethiopia remains high. Thus, studies on the time to recovery of asphyxiated neonates and their predictors are critical. Therefore, the current study aimed to determine the time to recovery of asphyxiated neonates and its predictors among newborns admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit of public hospitals in North Shewa, Amhara region, Ethiopia.

Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted on 523 asphyxiated neonates in North Shoa, using a simple random sampling method. Data was collected using Kobo and STATA, and survival times were estimated using Kaplan-Meier survival curves. Bivariate and multivariate cox proportional hazards regression analyses were performed.

Results A total of 523 admitted asphyxiated newborns were monitored for 3682 neonatal days, ranging from a minimum of 1 day to a maximum of 28 days. The overall survival rate was 79.1%. The median recovery time was seven days (95% CI: 6.60-7.39). A depressed Moro reflex (AHR: 0.52, 95% CI: 0.38-0.87), stage I hypoxemic ischemic encephalopathy (AHR: 2.5, 95% CI: 1.65-5.87), not receiving calcium gluconate (AHR: 1.40, 95% CI: 1.02-1.68), and receiving 2/3 intravenous fluids during their stay (AHR: 0.68, 95% CI: 0.53-0.99) were predictors of the time to recovery of asphyxiated newborns.

Conclusions Compared with other research findings, the overall proportion of recovery is lower. To increase the recovery time from asphyxia, standardized care protocols, including fluid and electrolyte monitoring, could be established.