Modeling Determinants of Time-To-Death in Premature Infants Admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Jimma University Specialized Hospital.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify factors leading to mortality and statistically modeling the survival of premature infants. A sample of 490 preterm was taken from a hospital record at Jimma university specialized hospital from January 2013 to December 2015. To estimate, compare and model the survival time as well as examine the association between the survival time with different demographic, health and risk behavior variables the log rank and generalized Wilcoxon test, Cox proportional hazard model and the parametric regression model were applied. The result from log rank and generalized Wilcoxon test revealed that the survival probability of premature infants is statistically Significance difference in experiencing the death event among groups classified by prenatal Asphyxia, hyaline membrane disease, sepsis, jaundice, gestational age, respiratory distress syndrome and initial temperature. The mean survival time of premature infants’ was 21.23 days. The cox proportional hazad and parametric log-logistic regression(with odds ratio) model showed that prenatal Asphyxia (OR=2.479,P-value=0.01), hyaline membrane disease (OR=2.636,pvalue=0.0001), Sepsis (OR=2.072,p-value=0.005), Jaundice (OR=2.737,p-value=0.000), temperature (OR=0.811,p-value=0.018), respiratory distress syndrome (OR=3.287,pvalue=0.000), Gestational age of [30-32) (OR=0.336,p-value=0.017) and gestational age of (32-34] (OR=0.241,p-value=0.002) when gestational age of (26-28] as a references significantly contribute to a shorter survival time of premature infants’.In conclusion, the findings of this study shows that prenatal Asphyxia, hyaline membrane disease, sepsis, Jaundice, temperature, gestational age and respiratory distress syndrome as the most determinant and statistically associated with time to death of premature infants admitted to NICU. It is therefore recommended that people ought to be cognizant on the burden of these risk factors and well informed about the prematurity.