Demographic profile and outcome analysis on neonatal and pediatric intensive care patients in developing country: Experiences from a Secondary hospital, Nagaland, India.

Authors: Cecilia Katasi

DOI: 10.18231/j.ijpns.12348.1885818970

Keywords: Demography, neonatal intensive care unit, paediatric intensive care unit

Abstract: Background Nagaland is one of the North Eastern Indian states with significant indigenous populations, and relatively high child mortality. The study is done to identify the demographic profile of children admitted in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)/ Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). to strengthen the services of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)/ Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). Methods The study was done as retrospective descriptive in the Christian Institute of Health Sciences and Research, Nagaland. The data was collected from Health information and management department after obtaining permission from Medical Superintendent. The data from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2020 was analysed. A total of 401 children below 15 years, including new-born babies were treated in the NICU/PICU during the study period. The research was approved by the Institutional Review Board after seeking necessary clarifications on confidentiality, security of data, and procedures for maintaining the privacy of information. Microsoft excel sheets was used for data entry and analysed using SPSS version 21. Results Both males and females were equally represented. Majority 89% are from Nagaland, and 11% from neighboring state of Assam. Significant number were newborn (70%) followed by infants (14%). The most common causes of admission among newborns are neonatal sepsis (17.8%), prematurity (12.2%), depressed at birth (8.5%) and among other age groups include sepsis (3.7%), other neurological condition like ADEM, neural tube defect, etc. (3.5%), severe pneumonia (3.0%), meningitis (2.7%) and encephalitis (2.7%). 83.3% were of the patient were discharged alive from NICU/ PICU. However only 3% had died, 2% had to be referred elsewhere and 11.5% the families requested discharge against medical advice. Conclusion In our study, children under the age of five years including newborns contributed 90% of the study population. The findings clearly showed that despite the nature of critical conditions on admission, the ICU has treated them successfully in over 80% of cases.