Assessment of Umbilical Cord Nucleated Red Blood Cell Count in Discharged and Dead Very Low Birth Weight Infants

Abstract

Background: Predictive value of the umbilical nucleated red blood cells (NRBCs) at birth for neonatal outcomes has been assessed. Hence, the present study was conducted to compare NRBC between discharged and dead neonates.Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on preterm newborns with a birth weight of Results: A total of 205 neonates, including 136 discharged neonates (66.03%) and 69 dead neonates (33.7%), were examined in the present study. The results demonstrated a significant difference between the two groups in terms of the first minute Apgar score (P=0.023), fifth minute Apgar score (P=0.010), gestational age (P=0.000), birth weight (P=0.000), WBC (P=0.020), absolute NRBC (P=0.004), NRBC percentage (P=0.001), duration of mechanical ventilation (P=0.029), duration of oxygen therapy (P=0.012).Moreover, mechanical ventilation (P=0.036), type of oxygen therapy (P=0.000), NRBC percentage (P=0.001), and absolute NRBC count (P=0.001) showed a statistically significant relationship with neonatal survival rate.Conclusion: As the findings indicated, mechanical ventilation, type of oxygen therapy, absolute NRBC count, and NRBC percentage can be used as markers for predicting neonatal mortality rate.

Keywords

• death
• discharged
• neonates
• nrbc
• prediction