ABSTRACT
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection, which was initially reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, had a rapid spread throughout the world becoming a new global crisis. Today, very little is known about neonatal COVID-19 infection. Herein, we tried to define the clinical and demographic characteristics, risk factors, and laboratory and imagining findings of neonates who tested positive for COVID-19 and were admitted to the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) of Ali Ibn Abi Taleb Hospital, Zahedan, Iran, from June 2021 to July 2021. All full-term and premature neonates diagnosed with COVID-19 were included in the study. Their ages ranged from 1 to 21 days at admission, including 6 boys and 4 girls. The medical records of mother-baby dyads were reviewed. All mothers, except for one, were negative for COVID-19 infection. The most frequent findings in the neonates were fever, poor feeding, respiratory distress, cough, hypoxemia, and drooling. Broad-spectrum antibiotics were administered as routine. All neonates, except for one, needed respiratory support, and intratracheal surfactant was administered for three newborns. Three neonates with severe disorders died during the study period.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Transient tachypnea of the newborn (TTN) is one of the most frequent causes of respiratory distress in neonates. A relationship has been shown between vitamin D deficiency and respiratory disorders in neonates. This research was carried out to evaluate the serum level of vitamin D in TTN newborns and their mothers compared to the control group. METHODS: This case-control research was conducted during 2016-2019 in a general hospital affiliated with Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Thirty-four infants with TTN and 82 neonates in the control group as well as their mothers were investigated. The levels of umbilical cord serum vitamin D in infants with TTN and also their mothers were compared to the control group. RESULTS: The mean levels of serum vitamin D in infants with TTN and their mothers were 8.11 ± 4.32 and 12.6 ± 10.12 ng/mL, respectively (P<0.001), whereas they were 19.21 ± 12.71 and 25.96 ± 16.6 ng/mL in the newborns of the control group and their mothers, respectively (P<0.001). The mean differences (95% CI) of neonatal and maternal vitamin D level between the two groups were 11.10 (7.92-14.28) and 13.36 (7.90-18.08), respectively. In the TTN group, 100% of the infants had vitamin D levels less than 30 ng/mL (79.4% had severe, 17.6% had moderate and 2.9% showed mild deficiency). However, vitamin D levels lower than 30 ng/mL were observed in 76.4% of the neonates in the control group (28.8% had severe, 31.1% showed moderate and 16.3% had a mild deficiency) (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: The serum vitamin D levels of infants with TTN and their mothers were significantly lower than the control group. Therefore, TTN in infants may be reduced through the treatment of vitamin D deficiency in mothers.
Subject(s)
Fetal Blood , Transient Tachypnea of the Newborn/blood , Vitamin D Deficiency/blood , Adult , Case-Control Studies , Delivery, Obstetric/statistics & numerical data , Female , Humans , Incidence , Infant, Newborn , Iran/epidemiology , Male , Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Newborn/blood , Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Newborn/epidemiology , Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Newborn/etiology , Transient Tachypnea of the Newborn/epidemiology , Transient Tachypnea of the Newborn/etiology , Vitamin D/metabolism , Vitamin D Deficiency/epidemiologyABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Neurological manifestations of neonatal disorders have various causes, among them neonatal tetanus, albeit rare, is a potentially fatal and preventable disease, which is seen in underdeveloped and developing countries. Although the disease has been eradicated from I.R. Iran, pregnant women immigrating to Iran from neighboring countries, especially from eastern border, may carry a risk of neonatal tetanus to the child due to inadequate tetanus immunization and inappropriate post-delivery care. It is then important to maintain a high index of suspicion for early diagnosis and prompt treatment, when infants present with poor feeding and abnormal behavior. Case presentation Here, we report the clinical course of a newborn with neonatal tetanus, who was admitted with complaints of poor feeding and muscle rigidity, more than a decade after eradication of the disorder.
