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Surfactant improved survival rates associated with neonatal respiratory failure
Wang H. Pediatrics. 2012;doi:10.1542peds/2011-0725.
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Surfactant reduces mortality rate in neonatal respiratory failure, but more study is needed to increase survival rates of premature infants with respiratory distress and infection, according to a recently published study.
Huanhuan Wang, MD, and colleagues at the Children’s Hospital of Fudan University and the Laboratory of Neonatal Diseases of Ministry of Health in Shanghai, China, examined retrospective records from 55 neonatal ICUs in China to study the incidence, morbidity and mortality rates of neonatal respiratory failure (NRF) in 2008. About 6,800 of all hospital admissions were for NRF.
Researchers defined NRF “as respiratory hypoxemia requiring mechanical ventilation and/or nasal continuous positive airway pressure for at least 24 hours.” Conditions commonly associated with NRF included respiratory distress syndrome, pneumonia/sepsis, transient respiratory insufficiency, transient tachypnea and meconium aspiration syndrome.
The researchers said surfactant boosted survival rates associated with respiratory distress syndrome, with 79.9% of infants surviving compared with 71.8% not receiving surfactant. Cost was a direct factor in infants withdrawn from treatment.
“Deaths after withdrawal from critical care contributed to the high mortality of NRF in these NICUs. It should be noted that mortality after termination of treatment (16.1%) accounted for two-thirds of the total death rate of NRF, and in nearly half of these cases (46.2%), the deciding factor was the parents’ limited ability to afford the high cost of treatment,” the researchers wrote.
Although the study results revealed that survival rates of NRF have increased with surfactant treatment, low survival rates for other respiratory diseases need to be addressed, especially mortality due to parents’ inability to pay, according to the researchers.
Disclosure:
- The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.