International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences | April 2017 | Vol 5 | Issue 4 Page 1487 International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences Adebami OJ et al. Int J Res Med Sci. 2017 Apr;5(4):1487-1493 www.msjonline.org pISSN 2320-6071 | eISSN 2320-6012 Original Research Article Determinants of outcome in newborns with respiratory distress in Osogbo, Nigeria Olusegun J. Adebami 1 *, Victor I. Joel-Medewase 1 , Efeturi Agelebe 2 , Temitope O. Ayeni 2 , Olamide V. Kayode 2 , Ololade A. Odeyemi 2 , Gabriel A. Oyedeji 2 INTRODUCTION Respiratory distress is one of the commonest presentations necessitating hospital admission of newborns. 1 About 15% of term infants and 29% of late preterm infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit develop have significant respiratory symptoms; this is even higher for infants born before 34 weeks’ gestation. 2,3 The clinical presentations of respiratory distress in the newborn include difficulty with breathing (nasal flaring, recessions or retractions in the intercostal, subcostal, or supracostal spaces, grunting, head nodding); too fast breathing (tachypnoea – respiratory rate more than 60 breaths per minute); too slow or shallow breathing (bradypnoea – respiratory rate less than 30 per minute, apnea); noisy breathing (stertor, expiratory ABSTRACT Background: Respiratory distress is one of the commonest presentations necessitating hospital admission in newborn unit. Regardless of the cause, if not recognized and managed quickly, respiratory distress can escalate to apnoea, respiratory failure, cardiopulmonary arrest and death. Methods: A cross-sectional and descriptive study of newborns with respiratory distress admitted into the SCBU of LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, Nigeria. Respiratory distress was diagnosed by grunting, inspiratory stridor, nasal flaring and tachypnea (more than 60 breaths per minute), retractions in the intercostal, subcostal, or supracostal spaces and cyanosis. At admission, every neonate had a complete physical examination. Results: Of 625 babies admitted, 384 (61.4%) were males while 241 (38.6%) were females and 164 (26.2%) had respiratory distress. Respiratory distress was commoner among the preterms than term newborns.  2 = 44.7, p = 0.001. Leading causes of respiratory distress among the preterms were hyaline membrane disease, septicaemia, while among the term babies were perinatal asphyxia, transient tachypnoea of newborn and meconium aspiration. Sixty (36.6%) of the 164 babies with respiratory distress died. While 40.2% of the preterms died mainly from causes like hyaline membrane disease and septicaemia, 31.3% of term babies died from causes like perinatal asphyxia and meconium aspiration. Mortality from hyaline membrane disease was 46.9%, while perinatal asphyxia and meconium aspiration accounted for 38.9% and 40.0% respectively. Conclusions: Respiratory distress is therefore, a very common neonatal problem and it causes death of more than third of those affected. Emphasis should be geared towards reduction of preterm delivery, control of asphyxia and neonatal sepsis in order to reduce neonatal mortality in our environment. Keywords: Hyaline membrane disease, Neonatal respiratory distress, Nigeria, Perinatal asphyxia 1 Department Paediatrics and Child Health, College of Health Sciences, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Osogbo, Nigeria 2 Department Paediatrics and Child Health, LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, Nigeria Received: 04 February 2017 Accepted: 06 March 2017 *Correspondence: Dr. Olusegun J. Adebami, E-mail: ojadebami@lautech.edu.ng Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20171252