Background: respiratory disorders are the most frequent cause of admission to the special care NICU both in term and preterm infants.
Objectives: to find out the incidence, causes and outcomes of neonatal respiratory distress.
Patients and Methods: a retrospective study was conducted in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Ahmed Maher Teaching Hospital on neonates presenting with respiratory distress who were admitted over a period of 2 years from January 2016 to December 2017.
Results: Out of all 657 neonates admitted, 470developed Respiratory Distress, The incidence of neonatal respiratory distress (NRD) was (71.53%). Among newborn with respiratory distress (55.5%) were males, (44.44%) were females. (57.02%) were full-term, and (42.98%) were pre-term. (67.8%) were delivered by caesarian section and (32.1%) delivered by vaginal delivery. The most common risk factors of NRD were diabetes mellitus (19.14%)and PROM (14.89) which significantly correlated with causes of NRD with p value
Conclusion: Neonatal respiratory distress stays the major reason for increased morbidity and mortality among newborn, so early recognition of signs and symptoms of NRD, differentiate of its causes and early start of proper treatment to prevent its complications and improve the prognosis of these babies. In the present study the incidence of respiratory distress was 71.53 % with more cases occur in full terms who were delivered by cesarean section .History of maternal illness and uneven obstetric history had an important role in neonatal morbidity especially maternal DM and PROM were significantly related to causes of NRD . Tachypnea was the most common symptom .ground glass opacities and air bronchogram most common x-ray findings In this study, the most common causes of neonatal respiratory distress were respiratory distress syndrome (RDS)followed by infection .there difference between inborn and outborn cases. RDS cases had the longest duration of hospitalization. TTN had the least. (77.44%) were discharged while he mortality rate was 22.93%; the most common causes of death were infection, RDS, congenital anomalies and asphyxia.