Brain Natriuretic Peptide: A Predictor for Severity Respiratory Distress Syndrome in Newborns

Respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) is considered as one of the most popular prematurity-related respiratory problems and among the most prominent reasons of deaths in preterm infants. Brain Natriuretic Peptide (BNP) is the secret of the volume and pressure overload response of the vessels and decreases due to resistance as well as rises in systemic vessels and also in decline of pulmonary artery pressure. In the present paper, BNP is considered as a biomarker for prediction of RDS scoring. In this case, 65 preterm infants under 37 weeks with an Apgar score more than seven and 65 healthy term infants were chosen. All of them were controlled for three days in NICU and then divided into 4 groups based on the RDS scoring and intensity, as well as chest x-ray findings; normal, mild, moderate, and severe. Serum BNP of all the infants was measured through ELISA kit and a questionnaire was filled up for each infant based on his/her demographic information and clinical findings. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS software based on the independent statistical t-test, one-sided variance analysis and X2. P < 0.05 was considered as the significant. The study results revealed a significant difference between the two groups regarding the pregnancy age, weight and type of delivery between cases and control groups (P ≥ 0.05); but there was no significant difference between BNP in cases and control groups (P ≤ 0.05). However, the comparison between the mean of pregnancy weight, pregnancy age, and BNP based on RDS frequency among the patients was significant (P ≥ 0.05). The results of this study demonstrated that serum BNP level correlates with increased RDS scoring. Therefore, it is possible to use BNP as the prediction marker for the progressive changes of RDS which occur in premature infants.