Background: One of the most prevalent reasons for admission to neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) is respiratory distress syndrome (RDs).  When myocardial cells are damaged, cardiac troponin I (cTnT) is released as a biomarker of myocardial damage, which is very specific and sensitive.
Objective: To determine the level of cTnT in preterm infants who have respiratory distress syndrome as a marker of cardiac dysfunction.
Patients and Methods: This study was carried as a case-control trial on forty preterm infants, 20 patients of respiratory distress syndrome at neonatal intensive care unit as a group I, 20 apparently healthy newborns as a control group. Serum cardiac troponin T level sample was taken on the 3rd day of delivery.
Results: A statistically significant difference in blood troponin was found between the groups tested, with a negative connection between serum troponin and gestational age, length, and APGAR scores at the first and fifth minutes of life.Respiratory rate and serum troponin were found to have a statistically significant connection. Any one of the echocardiographic measures had a statistically significant positive connection with serum troponin. Serum troponin was able to diagnose respiratory distress syndrome with cutoff ≥ 93.5 ng/mL with the area under the curve, Positive predictive value: 83.33% Positive predictive value: 83.33% Negative predictive value: 100 percent Accuracy: 90%.
Conclusion: Cardiac troponin T can be used to detect cardiac dysfunction in ill newborns, especially in centers that do not have in-house echocardiography.