Factors associated with clinical complications during intra-hospital transports in a neonatal unit in Brazil

• Published in: Journal of tropical pediatrics (1980) Vol. 57; no. 5; p. 368
• Main Authors: Vieira, Anna L P, dos Santos, Amélia M N, Okuyama, Mariana K, Miyoshi, Milton H, de Almeida, Maria F B, Guinsburg, Ruth
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.10.2011
• Subjects: Age Factors; Body Temperature; Brazil; Equipment Failure; Female; Gestational Age; Hospitals, University; Humans; Iatrogenic Disease; Infant, Newborn; Infant, Premature; Infant, Premature, Diseases - therapy; Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; Intensive Care, Neonatal - statistics & numerical data; Logistic Models; Male; Monitoring, Physiologic; Retrospective Studies; Transportation of Patients - statistics & numerical data; Brazil
• ISSN: 1465-3664
• DOI: 10.1093/tropej/fmq111

Analyze factors associated with clinical complications during intra-hospital transport of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) patients. Prospective study of 641 infants submitted to 1197 intra-hospital transports at a public university NICU. Factors associated with clinical complications during intra-hospital transports were studied by multiple logistic regression analysis. Included infants had a mean gestational age of 35.1 ± 3.8 weeks and a birth weight of 2328 ± 906 g. Underline diseases were: malformations (71.9%), infections (7.6%), respiratory distress (4.1%) and others (16.4%). Patients were transported for surgical procedures (22.6%), magnetic resonance (10.6%), tomography imaging (20.9%), contrasted exams (18.2%), ultrasound (10.4%) and others (17.3%). Clinical complications occurred in 327 (27.3%) transports and were associated (odds ratio; 95% CI) with: central nervous system malformations (1.6; 95% CI 1.0-2.0); use of supplemental oxygen (4.0; 95% CI 2.8-5.6); mechanical ventilation (5.0; 95% CI 3.5-7.5); transport for surgeries (4.0; 95% CI 1.1-14.0) and duration of the transport longer than 120 min (1.6; 95% CI 1.1-2.4). Intra-hospital transports are associated with increased risk of clinical complications.