Current Practice of Prevention and Management of RDS in Bangladesh

Abstract

Objective: To find out what obstetricians and neonatologists are doing to prevent and treat Respiratory Distress Syndrome right now. Methods: It was a cross-sectional survey research with participants from several teaching/referral hospitals around the nation.  Results: 46% of 150 doctors participated in this survey identified 10-30% of cases of premature births. The majority physicians (71.3 %) favoured use of antenatal corticosteroid (ACS) and 61.33% favoured four doses of Dexamethasone administered every 12 hours. The usage of repeated doses of corticosteroid was less prevalent (56.7%). RDS diagnosis was less prevalent among neonatologists (58%) and most diagnoses were made clinically. Nevertheless, compared to other industrialized nations, neonatologists utilized surfactant in 34.7% of the cases.   Conclusion: Respiratory Distress Syndrome is one of the most important causes of neonatal mortality of preterm LBW in the community. Therefore a common protocol based approach for prevention and management of RDS may prove critical which is currently not in practice uniformly.