Objective: To evaluate COVID-19 pandemic preparedness, available resources, and guidelines for neonatal care delivery among neonatal health care providers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) across all continents.
Study Design: Cross-sectional, web-based survey administered between May and June, 2020.
Results: Of 189 invited participants in 69 LMICs, we received 145 (77%) responses from 58 (84%) countries. The pandemic provides significant challenges to neonatal care, particularly in low-income countries. Respondents noted exacerbations of preexisting shortages in staffing, equipment, and isolation capabilities. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 9/35 (26%) respondents noted increased mortality in non-COVID-19-infected infants. Clinical practices on cord clamping, isolation, and breastfeeding varied widely, often not in line with World Health Organization guidelines. Most respondents noted family access restrictions, and limited shared decision-making.
Conclusions: Many LMICs face an exacerbation of preexisting resource challenges for neonatal care during the pandemic. Variable approaches to care delivery and deviations from guidelines provide opportunities for international collaborative improvement.
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8042838 | PMC |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41372-021-01019-4 | DOI Listing |
BMJ Open Ophthalmol
December 2024
Ophthalmology, Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow, UK.
Background: Very premature infants screened for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) that do not develop ROP still experience serious visual developmental challenges, and while it is recommended that all children in the UK are offered preschool visual screening, we aimed to explore whether this vulnerable group requires dedicated follow-up.
Methods: We performed a real-world retrospective observational cohort study of children previously screened for ROP in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (Scotland) between 2013 and 2015. We excluded those with any severity of ROP identified during screening.
J Clin Med
December 2024
Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases, Clinical Hospital Centre Rijeka, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia.
Autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) is the leading cause of thyroid dysfunction globally, characterized primarily by two distinct clinical manifestations: Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) and Graves' disease (GD). The prevalence of AITD is approximately twice as high in women compared to men, with a particularly pronounced risk during the reproductive years. Pregnancy exerts profound effects on thyroid physiology and immune regulation due to hormonal fluctuations and immune adaptations aimed at fostering maternal-fetal tolerance, potentially triggering or exacerbating AITD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Clin Med
December 2024
Department of Gynecology, Obstetrics and Neonatology, Division of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Medical University of Gdańsk, 80-210 Gdańsk, Poland.
Premature deliveries and preterm newborns are of a special significance to obstetricians. Despite great improvement in neonatal intensive care in the last two decades, prematurity is still the leading cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity. Complications associated with premature deliveries are malpresentation, prolapse of the umbilical cord, entrapment of some parts of the fetal body, as well as severe bruising or bone fractures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Clin Med
December 2024
Department of Neonatology, Faculty of Medicine, Ludwik Rydgier Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Ujejskiego 75, 85-168 Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Neonatal sepsis, a severe infection in newborns, remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among preterm infants. This study aimed to investigate the distribution of pathogens responsible for early-onset sepsis (EOS) and late-onset sepsis (LOS), the annual variability of pathogens responsible for each type of infection, and potential trends in their profiles in preterm infants from a tertiary care neonatal intensive care unit over a ten-year period. We analyzed 177 episodes of confirmed bloodstream infection between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2023.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCancers (Basel)
January 2025
Unit of Dermatology, Department of Medicine, University of Padova, 35122 Padua, Italy.
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