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Prevalence of symptomatic hypocalcaemia in neonates in neonatal intensive care unit in al-Diwaniyah city

Qahtan khayoon hammod Alyasiri*

Objectives: To assess the prevalence of symptomatic hypocalcaemia in neonates in neonatal intensive care unit in al-Diwaniyah city. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional analytical study was conducted at the neonatal intensive care unit of the maternity and children teaching hospital in Al Diwaniyah from January to May 2021. The total number of twenty-nine neonates with hypocalcaemia were included in this study from 709 neonates, admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit at the hospital. The parameters of newborns(age, gender, weight, the age of the newborn at the time of occurrence of hypocalcaemia, signs, and symptoms at diagnosis of hypocalcaemia, in addition to investigations of serum calcium in the blood). Results: Out of a total of 709 newborns treated at neonatal intensive care unit, hypocalcaemia was found in 29 subjects (4.01%), 72.4% of them were males and 27.6% were females, 58.6 of them was term and 41.4% was preterm, Age group at the firsts day of constituted 17.8% while the age group of 1-7 day constituted 17.2% and the age group more than 7 day was 13.8 %. Patients with serum calcium levels between 5-7 mg constituted 34.5% and between 7-8.1 mg/dl were 65.5%. Conclusion: The prevalence of symptomatic hypocalcaemia in neonates examined was 4.01%. Recommendation: more attention should be devoted to identifying risk factors, prevention, early identification, and metabolic support for sick newborns.