O-73 The Contribution of The High Dependency Unit To The Management Of Neonates During The COVID-19 Pandemic
Author(s):
S Griffiths Nelson, M Thame, B Crossdale, J Lewis
Year of Presentation:
2023
Objective: To determine the number of neonates admitted to the HDU and of those admitted, the number who tested positive for COVID; to document the symptomology of these neonates; to describe the outcome and to determine if maternal factors contributed to their outcome.
Methods: A retrospective descriptive study was conducted on the neonates who were admitted to the HDU at the University Hospital of the West Indies between August 2020, to June 2021. Collated data were summarized and explored from our demographic sheet using univariate analyses to describe the outcome of the neonates studied.
Results: Fifty four % (54) of mothers had an unknown COVID status, 30% were negative and 16% were positive. There was no statistical significance between the type of maternal conditions and whether a mother was COVID positive or negative. Nine Covid-19 mothers had babies with respiratory distress while 16 non-covid mothers did. A chisquared analysis revealed no significant differences between the mothers with covid and without (p= 0.850). That is, it is just as likely for a baby from a mother with COVID to have respiratory distress as a baby from a mother without COVID.
Conclusion: No patient tested positive for COVID-19 at twenty four hours of life. The risk of vertical transmission is low. There was no clinical difference between the profile, symptomology and outcomes of neonates born to covid positive vs non-covid mothers.