Tachypnea in the full-term newborn

Abstract EN

With the objective of defining the cause and the course of illness in babies who present with respiratory distress, a study was done one 82 full-term neonates admitted in the hospital. Birth weight o fat least 2.5 kg, gestational age between 38-42 weeks and a respiratory rate of >60/minute with or without other signs of respiratory distress were regarded as sufficient criteria of inclusion. The study revealed a wide spectrum of pulmonary and extra-pulmonary conditions, all resulting in an increased respiratory rate.

Some of these diseases were significantly different from those usually seen in the premature infants. Hyaline membrane disease was not seen.

The diagnoses included pneumonia, (26 cases), meconium aspiration syndrome (15 babies), congenital heart disease, (6 patients) and anomalies of the upper respiratory tract were seen in 2 children. Twenty-one neonates without obvious cardiopulmonary pathology presented with rapid breathing, these included sepsis with accompanying dehydration, acidosis, hypoglycemia or anemia without pulmonary involvement.

Five infants with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy and two with acute renal failure also presented with tachypnea. The present study outlines the highly varied range of diseases that can present with respiratory distress in the full term newborn.

It lays stress on the necessity for a high index of suspicion in cases of non-pulmonary conditions presenting with pulmonary symptomatology and briefly discusses some of the measures that may help in reducing adverse sequelae in the full-term baby.