Abstract:
Background: Throughout the world NRD is a major reason for admissions into neonatal
intensive care units. NRD presents in many different ways but the main symptoms are;
tachypnea, nasal flaring, chest retractions, and grunting. The complications can lead to serious
morbidity and mortality. Despite high neonatal morbidity and mortality due to NRD there has
been no studies focusing on NRD in Rwanda.This studydetermined the prevalence, associated
risk factors and outcomes of NRD in a selected referral hospital.
Methodology:Quantitative descriptive, retrospective, cross- sectional design was used and
stratified random sampling method was used to select a sample of 247 patients’ files through the
population of all neonates n=683 admitted to the NICU during 2016. An adapted checklist from
a Cameroon study was used to collect data and were analyzed by SPSS version 20 and presented
using tables and figures.
Results: The prevalence rate of NRDwas 60% among the total number of admissions in the
NICU. The associated risk factors were prematurity (61%), low birth weight (62.8%), male
gender (56%) and Apgar score<7 at 5 min (21%). The main etiologies of NRD identified were
neonatal infections (40, 3%), TTN (28%), and RDS (18%).TTN was statistically significant to be
associated with NRD with p value .000 and also neonatal infections with a p value .004.
Outcomes: 53.1 % of newborns were discharged home and 43.2 % of neonates died.
Conclusion and recommendation:It has been found that the prevalence of NRD is high in
Rwanda compared to other African countries like in the Cameroon where NRD is high at
47.5%.The deaths of newborns (43.2%) was high demonstrating the serious mortality associates
with NRD. These findings point to the need for implementing evidence based practices in
prevention and management of NRD.
