The Effect of High Risk Pregnancy on Duration of Neonatal Stay in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Objective: High risk pregnancies increase the risk of neonatal mortality and morbidity. In order to identify the influence of pregnancy complications on the period of neonatal stay in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs), an analysis has been carried out in our center. Methods: In a cross-sectional-descriptive analytical study, the data including NICU length of stay was gathered from 526 medical records of neonates. We also assessed their maternal complications such as premature rapture of membranes (PROM), urinary tract infection (UTI), preeclampsia, oligohydramnios, and twin/triplet pregnancy. Finally we analyzed the relation between variables by SPSS statistics software version 19. The level of significance was considered P<0.05. Findings: 37 of 526 neonatal medical records were excluded. Of the 489 babies hospitalized in NICU for 1 to 54 days; 28.42% born were preterm, 308 with birth weight <2500 gram and 170 with birth weight between 2500 and 4000 gram. There was a significant relation between length of neonatal NICU stay and maternal PROM (P=0.001), preeclampsia (P=0.01), UTI (P=0.02), multiple gestation (P=0.03), and oligohydramnios (P=0.003). We found a positive correlation between numbers of gestation and length of NICU stay (P=0.03). A positive correlation existed between neonatal complication and length of NICU stay (P<0.001). Conclusion: By increasing maternal health level and prenatal care services, neonatal outcome can be improved and length of stay in NICUs decreased.