Background: Respiratory distress is one of the most common reasons an infant is admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit. Fifteen percent of term infants and 29% of late preterm infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit develop significant respiratory morbidity; this is even higher for infants born before 34 weeks ‘gestation. Certain risk factors increase the likelihood of neonatal respiratory disease. These factors include prematurity, meconium-stained amniotic fluid (MSAF), caesarean section delivery, gestational diabetes, maternal chorioamnionitis, or prenatal ultrasonographic findings, such as oligohydramnios or structural lung abnormalities. Aim of the study was to study   the, etiology and outcome of respiratory distress in newborns.Methods: The present study was conducted at the Department of Pediatrics, Acharya Vinoba Bhave Rural Hospital, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Sawangi (Meghe),Wardha, Maharashtra, India. Sample size was decided on the basis of prevalence of neonatal respiratory distress in our area. It was conducted for a period of two years from 1st August 2014 to 31st July 2016.Results: maximum admissions on day 1 of life i.e. 309 (77.25%) followed by on day 2 i.e. 90 (22.50%) 231 (57.75%) were males and 169 (42.25%) were females. Male to female ratio was 1.36:1 Out of 400 children 11 were less than 1000 gms, followed by 77 (19.25%) had birth weight between 1000 g - 1499 g, 193 (48.25%) neonates had weight between 1500 g - 2499 gms and 118 (29.5%) neonates had weight between 2500 - 3499 gms and remaining 1 neonate had birth weight > 3500 grams. Out of 400 Neonates with respiratory distress, 281 (70.25%) had low birth weight and remaining 119 (29.75%) neonates had normal birth weight.Conclusions: Respiratory distress was the major cause of admission in our NICU. Caesarean section was the most common predisposing factor associated with the development of respiratory distress in neonates. Antenatal risk factors increase the incidence of RD. The most common causes of respiratory distress were TTN, RDS, MAS, and perinatal asphyxia. The common cause of death was HMD. The outcome of neonatal respiratory distress was found as: a survival rate of 78.5%, mortality rate of 21.5%.

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