Keywords
Neonatal Danger signs
Tertiary care Hospital
How to Cite
Abstract
Introduction: Identification of neonatal danger signs is crucial for providing timely management on neonatal care and reducing neonatal morbidity and mortality.
Objective: To assess mother's knowledge on neonatal danger signs and its contributing factors in a tertiary level hospital.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted from 9th December 2025 to 8th January 2026 among 385 mothers of neonates aged 0–30 days at Kathmandu Medical College Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu, with ethical approval obtained (Ref: 03122025/07). Data on socio-demographic characteristics, maternal knowledge of WHO-defined neonatal danger signs, and associated factors were collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed in SPSS version 26 using descriptive statistics and logistic regression.
Results: Overall, 94% of mothers demonstrated good knowledge on neonatal danger signs, with particularly high recognition of respiratory distress, jaundice, persistent vomiting, umbilical infection, and hypothermia. However, notable gaps were evident, with a proportion of mothers reporting “don’t know” for signs such as poor feeding, skin/eye infections, fever, and lethargy. Institutional delivery was significantly associated with better maternal knowledge compared to home delivery (aOR = 0.13; 95% CI: 0.02–0.80; p = 0.029).
Conclusion: Maternal knowledge on neonatal danger signs was high overall. However, gaps persisted in recognizing poor feeding, skin/eye infections, and lethargy. Institutional delivery was significantly associated with maternal knowledge, although the small number of home deliveries limits the strength and generalizability of this finding.
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