miR-221-3p, arterial blood gas, and lung ultrasound: a multimodal approach for predicting neonatal respiratory distress syndrome outcomes.

BACKGROUND

Neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (NRDS) is one of the critical illnesses causing early death in infants due to alveolar surface-active substance deficiency, and the prognosis may show varying degrees of sequelae. Some miRNAs are valuable in the prognosis of NRDS infants. The objective of this research was to assess the predictive value of combining the three factors on the prognosis of NRDS infants by analyzing miR-221-3p levels, arterial blood gas analysis parameters and lung ultrasound (LUS) scores in NRDS infants with good and poor prognosis.

METHODS

Serum miR-221-3p levels were measured by qRT-PCR. Effect of miR-221-3p expression in prognosis of NRDS infants using Kaplan-Meier curve and COX analyses. Arterial blood gas parameters were analyzed, as well as LUS score was recorded for NRDS infants. Role of miR-221-3p combined with arterial blood gas parameters and LUS score in prognosis of NRDS infants was assessed by ROC curves. Pearson correlation was applied to assess the association of miR-221-3p with arterial blood gas analysis parameters and LUS score.

RESULTS

Serum miR-221-3p was notably greater in NRDS infants than in healthy newborns. High miR-221-3p level was related to poor prognosis for NRDS infants. pH and PaO were lower and PaCO was higher in arterial blood gas analysis parameters in poor prognosis. Furthermore, LUS score was greater on poor prognosis as opposed to good prognosis. miR-221-3p combined with arterial blood gas parameters and LUS score has a high accuracy in predicting prognosis in NRDS infants. Moreover, miR-221-3p was associated negatively with pH and PaO and positively with PaCO and LUS score.

CONCLUSIONS

Elevated miR-221-3p may be related to poor survival outcomes in NRDS infants. miR-221-3p in combination with arterial blood gas parameters and LUS score has a high accuracy in determining the survival outcome of NRDS infants and may be a useful tool for clinical NRDS prognosis.