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Asphyxia neonatorum in a developing world situation : a study of the impact of asphyxia neonatorum in term infants on the pattern of handicap in the Ciskei; an evalution of its epidemiology and a trial of the efficacy of current therapy

This study addresses the problem of asphyxia neonatorum in a developing African community in the Mdantsane region of Ciskei. It also documents asphyxia as a prominent cause of childhood handicap, examines aspects of its epidemiology and evaluates the effectiveness of a regimen of phenobarbitone and...

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Main Author: Power, David John Donovan
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Paediatrics and Child Health 2018
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access_status_str Open Access
author Power, David John Donovan
author_browse Power, David John Donovan
author_facet Power, David John Donovan
author_sort Power, David John Donovan
collection Thesis
description This study addresses the problem of asphyxia neonatorum in a developing African community in the Mdantsane region of Ciskei. It also documents asphyxia as a prominent cause of childhood handicap, examines aspects of its epidemiology and evaluates the effectiveness of a regimen of phenobarbitone and dexamethasone in limiting subsequent neurological deficit in asphyxiated neonates. Analysis of neonatal deaths at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital over an 18-month period showed that asphyxia accounted for one third of all neonatal deaths. In particular, asphyxia caused two thirds of deaths in infants over 2 Kg birth weight. From a hospital register of handicapped children, 211 had cerebral palsy. Asphyxia was the cause of cerebral palsy in 33% of these children. Spastic quadriplegia, the type of cerebral palsy most often resulting from the cerebral damage associated with asphyxial hypoxic-ischaemic insults, was by far the largest diagnostic category (57%). Asphyxia therefore appears to be the single largest cause of significant handicap in Ciskei. In view of the underdeveloped support services to parents in most developing areas, the problem of asphyxia is of considerable importance. In the study of the epidemiology of asphyxia, details of pregnancy and labour were obtained for 163 asphyxiated term infants and 2758 non- asphyxiated term infants whose mothers had delivered in the hospital. The factors positively associated with asphyxia were: low gravidity and parity, failure to book for antenatal care, the occurrence of antenatal disorders, the occurrence of fetal distress, a prolonged first stage of labour and delivery by caesarean section or vacuum extraction. Maternal age and the actual number of antenatal visits were not associated with asphyxia. The causes of asphyxia assigned by the specialist obstetrician in charge were cephalopelvic disproportion (CPD) (39%), utero-placental pathologies (22%), other (8%), and "unknown" where he could find no abnormality in pregnancy and labour (27%). From these findings it appears that the steps that need to be taken for prevention include: active recruitment of patients to book for antenatal care, more active detection and management of cephalopelvic disproportion and basic research to elucidate the causes of the "unknown" group whom it is speculated have undetected utero-placental pathology.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:50:10.466Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2018
publishDateRange 2018
publishDateSort 2018
publisher Department of Paediatrics and Child Health
publisherStr Department of Paediatrics and Child Health
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/27190 Asphyxia neonatorum in a developing world situation : a study of the impact of asphyxia neonatorum in term infants on the pattern of handicap in the Ciskei; an evalution of its epidemiology and a trial of the efficacy of current therapy Power, David John Donovan Asphyxia neonatorum Asphyxia neonatorum - Occurrence - Ciskei Asphyxia neonatorum - Therapy - Ciskei This study addresses the problem of asphyxia neonatorum in a developing African community in the Mdantsane region of Ciskei. It also documents asphyxia as a prominent cause of childhood handicap, examines aspects of its epidemiology and evaluates the effectiveness of a regimen of phenobarbitone and dexamethasone in limiting subsequent neurological deficit in asphyxiated neonates. Analysis of neonatal deaths at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital over an 18-month period showed that asphyxia accounted for one third of all neonatal deaths. In particular, asphyxia caused two thirds of deaths in infants over 2 Kg birth weight. From a hospital register of handicapped children, 211 had cerebral palsy. Asphyxia was the cause of cerebral palsy in 33% of these children. Spastic quadriplegia, the type of cerebral palsy most often resulting from the cerebral damage associated with asphyxial hypoxic-ischaemic insults, was by far the largest diagnostic category (57%). Asphyxia therefore appears to be the single largest cause of significant handicap in Ciskei. In view of the underdeveloped support services to parents in most developing areas, the problem of asphyxia is of considerable importance. In the study of the epidemiology of asphyxia, details of pregnancy and labour were obtained for 163 asphyxiated term infants and 2758 non- asphyxiated term infants whose mothers had delivered in the hospital. The factors positively associated with asphyxia were: low gravidity and parity, failure to book for antenatal care, the occurrence of antenatal disorders, the occurrence of fetal distress, a prolonged first stage of labour and delivery by caesarean section or vacuum extraction. Maternal age and the actual number of antenatal visits were not associated with asphyxia. The causes of asphyxia assigned by the specialist obstetrician in charge were cephalopelvic disproportion (CPD) (39%), utero-placental pathologies (22%), other (8%), and "unknown" where he could find no abnormality in pregnancy and labour (27%). From these findings it appears that the steps that need to be taken for prevention include: active recruitment of patients to book for antenatal care, more active detection and management of cephalopelvic disproportion and basic research to elucidate the causes of the "unknown" group whom it is speculated have undetected utero-placental pathology. 2018-01-31T13:51:48Z 2018-01-31T13:51:48Z 1988 Doctoral Thesis Doctoral MD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27190 eng application/pdf Department of Paediatrics and Child Health Faculty of Health Sciences University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Asphyxia neonatorum
Asphyxia neonatorum - Occurrence - Ciskei
Asphyxia neonatorum - Therapy - Ciskei
Power, David John Donovan
Asphyxia neonatorum in a developing world situation : a study of the impact of asphyxia neonatorum in term infants on the pattern of handicap in the Ciskei; an evalution of its epidemiology and a trial of the efficacy of current therapy
thesis_degree_str Doctoral
title Asphyxia neonatorum in a developing world situation : a study of the impact of asphyxia neonatorum in term infants on the pattern of handicap in the Ciskei; an evalution of its epidemiology and a trial of the efficacy of current therapy
title_full Asphyxia neonatorum in a developing world situation : a study of the impact of asphyxia neonatorum in term infants on the pattern of handicap in the Ciskei; an evalution of its epidemiology and a trial of the efficacy of current therapy
title_fullStr Asphyxia neonatorum in a developing world situation : a study of the impact of asphyxia neonatorum in term infants on the pattern of handicap in the Ciskei; an evalution of its epidemiology and a trial of the efficacy of current therapy
title_full_unstemmed Asphyxia neonatorum in a developing world situation : a study of the impact of asphyxia neonatorum in term infants on the pattern of handicap in the Ciskei; an evalution of its epidemiology and a trial of the efficacy of current therapy
title_short Asphyxia neonatorum in a developing world situation : a study of the impact of asphyxia neonatorum in term infants on the pattern of handicap in the Ciskei; an evalution of its epidemiology and a trial of the efficacy of current therapy
title_sort asphyxia neonatorum in a developing world situation a study of the impact of asphyxia neonatorum in term infants on the pattern of handicap in the ciskei an evalution of its epidemiology and a trial of the efficacy of current therapy
topic Asphyxia neonatorum
Asphyxia neonatorum - Occurrence - Ciskei
Asphyxia neonatorum - Therapy - Ciskei
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27190
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