Predictors of death including quality of positive pressure ventilation during newborn resuscitation and the relationship to outcome at seven days in a rural Tanzanian hospital

Real-Time Digital Feedback Device and Simulated Newborn Ventilation Quality

OBJECTIVES

Effective bag-valve-mask ventilation is critical for reducing perinatal asphyxia-related neonatal deaths; however, providers often fail to achieve and maintain effective ventilation. The Augmented Infant Resuscitator (AIR) attaches to bag-valve-masks and provides visual feedback on air leaks, blocked airways, harsh breaths, and improper ventilatory rates. We evaluated the effect of this real-time-digital feedback on ventilation quality and the effective determination of airway integrity in a randomized controlled study in Uganda and the United States.

METHODS

Birth attendants trained in newborn resuscitation were randomized to receive either real-time AIR device feedback (intervention) or no feedback (control) during ventilation exercises. Intervention-arm participants received a 2-minute orientation on interpreting AIR feedback using a single-page iconography chart. All participants were randomly assigned to 3 blinded ventilation scenarios on identical-appearing manikins with airways that were either normal, significantly leaking air, or obstructed.

RESULTS

We enrolled 270 birth attendants: 77.8% from Uganda and 22.2% from the United States. Birth attendants receiving AIR feedback achieved effective ventilation 2.0 times faster: intervention mean 13.8s (95% confidence interval 10.6-17.1) versus 27.9s (21.6-34.3) for controls (P < .001). The duration of effective ventilation was 1.5 times longer: intervention mean 72.1s (66.7-77.5) versus 47.9s (41.6-54.2) for controls (P < .001). AIR feedback was associated with significantly more accurate and faster airway condition assessment (intervention mean 43.7s [40.5-47.0] versus 55.6s [51.6-59.6]).

CONCLUSIONS

Providers receiving real-time-digital AIR device feedback achieved effective ventilation significantly faster, maintained it longer, and determined airway condition faster and more accurately than providers in the control group.

Endotracheal intubation performance at a large obstetric hospital delivery room, Hanoi, Vietnam

INTRODUCTION

Intrapartum-related events account for nearly 700,000 neonatal deaths globally yearly. Endotracheal intubation is a cornerstone in preventing many of these deaths, but it is a difficult skill to acquire. Previous studies have described intubation performances in high-income countries, but data from low- and middle-income countries are lacking. We aimed to assess the performance of delivery room intubation in a lower middle-income country.

METHODS

This prospective observational study was conducted at the Phu San Hanoi Hospital, Vietnam, from September 2020 to January 2021. Video cameras were positioned above the resuscitation tables and data were extracted using adopted software (NeoTapAS). All neonates requiring positive pressure ventilation were included. Our main variables of interest were time to first intubation attempt, first intubation attempt duration, and successful first intubation attempt.

RESULTS

18,107 neonates were born during the five months. Of these, 75 (0.4%) received positive pressure ventilation, and 36 (0.2%) required endotracheal intubation of whom 24 were captured on video. The median time to the first intubation attempt was 252 seconds (range 91-771 seconds), the median first attempt duration was 49 seconds (range 10-105 seconds), and the first attempt success rate was 75%.

CONCLUSION

Incidences of positive pressure ventilation and endotracheal intubation were low in comparison to global estimates. Three out of four intubations were successful at the first attempt and the procedural duration was often longer than recommended. Future studies should focus on how to achieve and maintain intubation skills and could include considering alternative devices for airway management at birth.

SaferBirths bundle of care protocol: a stepped-wedge cluster implementation project in 30 public health-facilities in five regions, Tanzania

Background

The burden of stillbirth, neonatal and maternal deaths are unacceptably high in low- and middle-income countries, especially around the time of birth. There are scarce resources and/or support implementation of evidence-based training programs. SaferBirths Bundle of Care is a well-proven package of innovative tools coupled with data-driven on-the-job training aimed at reducing perinatal and maternal deaths. The aim of this project is to determine the effect of scaling up the bundle on improving quality of intrapartum care and perinatal survival.

Methods

The project will follow a stepped-wedge cluster implementation design with well-established infrastructures for data collection, management, and analysis in 30 public health facilities in regions in Tanzania. Healthcare workers from selected health facilities will be trained in basic neonatal resuscitation, essential newborn care and essential maternal care. Foetal heart rate monitors (Moyo), neonatal heart rate monitors (NeoBeat) and skills trainers (NeoNatalie Live) will be introduced in the health facilities to facilitate timely identification of foetal distress during labour and improve neonatal resuscitation, respectively. Heart rate signal-data will be automatically collected by Moyo and NeoBeat, and newborn resuscitation training by NeoNatalie Live.

Given an average of 4000 baby-mother pairs per year per health facility giving an estimate of 240,000 baby-mother pairs for a 2-years duration, 25% reduction in perinatal mortality at a two-sided significance level of 5%, intracluster correlation coefficient (ICC) to be 0.0013, the study power stands at 0.99.

Discussion

Previous reports from small-scale Safer Births Bundle implementation studies show satisfactory uptake of interventions with significant improvements in quality of care and lives saved. Better equipped and trained birth attendants are more confident and skilled in providing care. Additionally, local data-driven feedback has shown to drive continuous quality of care improvement initiatives, which is essential to increase perinatal and maternal survival. Strengths of this research project include integration of innovative tools with existing national guidelines, local data-driven decision-making and training. Limitations include the stepwise cluster implementation design that may lead to contamination of the intervention, and/or inability to address the shortage of healthcare workers and medical supplies beyond the project scope.

Trial registration

Name of Trial Registry: ISRCTN Registry.

Trial registration number: ISRCTN30541755.

Date of Registration: 12/10/2020.

Type of registration: Prospectively Registered.

[Clinical features of preterm infants with a birth weight less than 1 500 g undergoing different intensities of resuscitation: a multicenter retrospective analysis]

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the clinical features of preterm infants with a birth weight less than 1 500 g undergoing different intensities of resuscitation.

METHODS

A retrospective analysis was performed for the preterm infants with a birth weight less than 1 500 g and a gestational age less than 32 weeks who were treated in the neonatal intensive care unit of 20 hospitals in Jiangsu, China from January 2018 to December 2019. According to the intensity of resuscitation in the delivery room, the infants were divided into three groups:non-tracheal intubation (n=1 184), tracheal intubation (n=166), and extensive cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR; n=116). The three groups were compared in terms of general information and clinical outcomes.

RESULTS

Compared with the non-tracheal intubation group, the tracheal intubation and ECPR groups had significantly lower rates of cesarean section and use of antenatal corticosteroid (P < 0.05). As the intensity of resuscitation increased, the Apgar scores at 1 minute and 5 minutes gradually decreased (P < 0.05), and the proportion of infants with Apgar scores of 0 to 3 at 1 minute and 5 minutes gradually increased (P < 0.05). Compared with the non-tracheal intubation group, the tracheal intubation and ECPR groups had significantly higher mortality rate and incidence rates of moderate-severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia and serious complications (P < 0.05). The incidence rates of grade Ⅲ-Ⅳ intracranial hemorrhage and retinopathy of prematurity (stage Ⅲ or above) in the tracheal intubation group were significantly higher than those in the non-tracheal intubation group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

For preterm infants with a birth weight less than 1 500 g, the higher intensity of resuscitation in the delivery room is related to lower rate of antenatal corticosteroid therapy, lower gestational age, and lower birth weight. The infants undergoing tracheal intubation or ECRP in the delivery room have an increased incidence rate of adverse clinical outcomes. This suggests that it is important to improve the quality of perinatal management and delivery room resuscitation to improve the prognosis of the infants.

Neonatal resuscitation practices in Uganda: a video observational study

BACKGROUND

Neonatal mortality, often due to birth asphyxia, remains stubbornly high in sub-Saharan Africa. Guidelines for neonatal resuscitation, where achieving adequate positive pressure ventilation (PPV) is key, have been implemented in low-resource settings. However, the actual clinical practices of neonatal resuscitation have rarely been examined in these settings. The primary aim of this prospective observational study was to detail the cumulative proportion of time with ventilation during the first minute on the resuscitation table of neonates needing PPV at the Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala, Uganda.

METHODS

From November 2015 to January 2016, resuscitations of non-breathing neonates by birth attendants were video-recorded using motion sensor cameras. The resuscitation practices were analysed using the application NeoTapAS and compared between those taking place in the labour ward and those in theatre through Fisher's exact test and Wilcoxon rank-sum test.

RESULTS

From 141 recorded resuscitations, 99 were included for analysis. The time to initiation of PPV was 66 (42-102) s overall, and there was minimal PPV during the first minute in both groups with 0 (0-10) s and 0 (0-12) s of PPV, respectively. After initiating PPV the overall duration of interruptions during the first minute was 28 (18-37) s. Majority of interruptions were caused by stimulation (28%), unknown reasons (25%) and suction (22%).

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings show a low adherence to standard resuscitation practices in 2015-2016. This emphasises the need for continuous educational efforts and investments in staff and adequate resources to increase the quality of clinical neonatal resuscitation practices in low-resource settings.

A Randomized Trial of Laryngeal Mask Airway in Neonatal Resuscitation

BACKGROUND

Face-mask ventilation is the most common resuscitation method for birth asphyxia. Ventilation with a cuffless laryngeal mask airway (LMA) has potential advantages over face-mask ventilation during neonatal resuscitation in low-income countries, but whether the use of an LMA reduces mortality and morbidity among neonates with asphyxia is unknown.

METHODS

In this phase 3, open-label, superiority trial in Uganda, we randomly assigned neonates who required positive-pressure ventilation to be treated by a midwife with an LMA or with face-mask ventilation. All the neonates had an estimated gestational age of at least 34 weeks, an estimated birth weight of at least 2000 g, or both. The primary outcome was a composite of death within 7 days or admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) with moderate-to-severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy at day 1 to 5 during hospitalization.

RESULTS

Complete follow-up data were available for 99.2% of the neonates. A primary outcome event occurred in 154 of 563 neonates (27.4%) in the LMA group and 144 of 591 (24.4%) in the face-mask group (adjusted relative risk, 1.16; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.90 to 1.51; P = 0.26). Death within 7 days occurred in 21.7% of the neonates in the LMA group and 18.4% of those in the face-mask group (adjusted relative risk, 1.21; 95% CI, 0.90 to 1.63), and admission to the NICU with moderate-to-severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy at day 1 to 5 during hospitalization occurred in 11.2% and 10.1%, respectively (adjusted relative risk, 1.27; 95% CI, 0.84 to 1.93). Findings were materially unchanged in a sensitivity analysis in which neonates with missing data were counted as having had a primary outcome event in the LMA group and as not having had such an event in the face-mask group. The frequency of predefined intervention-related adverse events was similar in the two groups.

CONCLUSIONS

In neonates with asphyxia, the LMA was safe in the hands of midwives but was not superior to face-mask ventilation with respect to early neonatal death and moderate-to-severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. (Funded by the Research Council of Norway and the Center for Intervention Science in Maternal and Child Health; NeoSupra ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT03133572.).

Increased perinatal survival and improved ventilation skills over a five-year period: An observational study

Background and aim

The Helping Babies Breathe program gave major reductions in perinatal mortality in Tanzania from 2009 to 2012. We aimed to study whether this effect was sustained, and whether resuscitation skills changed with continued frequent training.

Methods

We analysed prospective data covering all births (n = 19,571) at Haydom Lutheran Hospital in Tanzania from July 2013 –June 2018. Resuscitation training was continued during this period. All deliveries were monitored by an observer recording the timing of events and resuscitation interventions. Heart rate was recorded by dry-electrode ECG and bag-mask-ventilation by sensors attached to the resuscitator device. We analyzed changes over time in outcomes, use of resuscitation interventions and performance of resuscitation using binary regression models with the log-link function to obtain adjusted relative risks.

Results

With introduction of user fees for deliveries since 2014, the number of deliveries decreased by 30% from start to the end of the five-year period. An increase in low heart rate at birth and need for bag-mask-ventilation indicate a gradual selection of more vulnerable newborns delivered in the hospital over time.

Despite this selection, newborn deaths <24 hours did not change significantly and was maintained at an average of 8.8/1000 live births. The annual reductions in relative risk for perinatal death adjusted for vulnerability factors was 0.84 (95%CI 0.76–0.94).

During the five-year period, longer duration of bag-mask ventilation sequences without interruption was observed. Delivered tidal volumes were increased and mask leak was decreased during ventilation. The time to initiation or total duration of ventilation did not change significantly.

Conclusion

The reduction in 24-hour newborn mortality after introduction of Helping Babies Breathe was maintained, and a further decrease over the five-year period was evident when analyses were adjusted for vulnerability of the newborns. Perinatal survival and performance of ventilation were significantly improved.

Quality of neonatal resuscitation in Ethiopia: implications for the survival of neonates

Background

Birth asphyxia accounts for one-quarter newborn deaths. Providing quality care service of neonatal resuscitation reduces neonatal mortality. However, challenges to providing quality neonatal resuscitation are not well investigated in Ethiopia. Hence, this study is conducted to assess the quality provision of neonatal resuscitation in Ethiopia.

Method

We used data from the Ethiopian 2016 Emergency Obstetric Newborn Care survey, conducted in 3804 health facilities providing maternal and newborn health services. We described the quality of neonatal resuscitation services according to the structure, process and outcome triad of quality dimension. Data from registers and birth records for the last 12 months prior to the survey were extracted. In each facility, the three last eligible charts of resuscitated neonates were reviewed and the highest frequency of chart of resuscitated baby was considered to the analysis. Thus, a total of 555 charts were assessed. Logistic regression model was used to assess the relationship between the neonatal resuscitation processes, provider, facility and newborn characteristics with neonatal outcome at the time of discharge.

Results

The finding suggested that, around two-third, 364(65.6%) of the asphyxiated babies resuscitated by bag and mask type of neonatal resuscitation. Of the babies who had got neonatal resuscitation 463 (83.4%) survived. Resuscitated neonates with a gestational age of greater than 37 weeks and above (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) =1.82; 95% Confidence Interval (CI) (1.09–3.04)), availability of priority equipment in health facilities for neonatal resuscitation (AOR = 1.24, 95% CI (1.09, 1.54)) and women who had 12 h and less duration of labor (AOR = 1.76; 95% CI (1.23, 3.13)) were the independent factors of survival of the neonate.

Conclusion

Only half of the health facilities were ready for neonatal resuscitation (NR) in terms of priority equipment’s. However, eight out of ten babies survived after NR in Ethiopia. Gestational age, priority equipment for NR and duration of labor were determinants of survival of resuscitated neonates in Ethiopia. Therefore, the availability of priority equipment and attentive care and follow-up for premature neonates and those face prolonged labor need to be improved in Ethiopia.

Effectiveness of a Novel Continuous Doppler (Moyo) Versus Intermittent Doppler in Intrapartum Detection of Abnormal Foetal Heart Rate: A Randomised Controlled Study in Tanzania

Background: Intrapartum foetal heart rate (FHR) monitoring is crucial for identification of hypoxic foetuses and subsequent interventions. We compared continuous monitoring using a novel nine-crystal FHR monitor (Moyo) versus intermittent single crystal Doppler (Doppler) for the detection of abnormal FHR. Methods: An unmasked randomised controlled study was conducted in a tertiary hospital in Tanzania (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02790554). A total of 2973 low-risk singleton pregnant women in the first stage of labour admitted with normal FHR were randomised to either Moyo (n = 1479) or Doppler (1494) arms. The primary outcome was the proportion of abnormal FHR detection. Secondary outcomes were time intervals in labour, delivery mode, Apgar scores, and perinatal outcomes. Results: Moyo detected abnormal FHR more often (13.3%) compared to Doppler (9.8%) (p = 0.002). Time intervals from admission to detection of abnormal FHR were 15% shorter in Moyo (p = 0.12) and from the detection of abnormal FHR to delivery was 36% longer in Moyo (p = 0.007) compared to the Doppler arm. Time from last FHR to delivery was 12% shorter with Moyo (p = 0.006) compared to Doppler. Caesarean section rates were higher with the Moyo device compared to Doppler (p = 0.001). Low Apgar scores (<7) at the 1st and 5th min were comparable between groups (p = 0.555 and p = 0.800). Perinatal outcomes (fresh stillbirths and 24-h neonatal deaths) were comparable at delivery (p = 0.497) and 24-h post-delivery (p = 0.345). Conclusions: Abnormal FHR detection rates were higher with Moyo compared to Doppler. Moyo detected abnormal FHR earlier than Doppler, but time from detection to delivery was longer. Studies powered to detect differences in perinatal outcomes with timely responses are recommended.