Therapeutic Hypothermia for Neonatal Encephalopathy in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Literature Review

Abstract

Aims: This structured review aimed to discuss the existing literature on therapeutic hypothermia for moderate to severe neonatal encephalopathy exclusively in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Methods: Medline, Embase, CINHAL and Cochrane Registry were searched for original papers with therapeutic hypothermia (TH) for treating neonatal encephalopathy in LMIC with no language restrictions. The search identified 1413 papers from 1990 to 31 August 2021.

Results: Twenty-one original papers were included after duplicates removal and full-text screening in the final review. Fourteen randomized control studies and seven non-randomized studies were discussed with various modes of cooling (servo-controlled, phase changing material, traditional methods), complications during cooling, mortality and long-term neurodevelopmental assessment. Although there is sufficient evidence in LMIC favouring cooling for the reduction in mortality and improving the neurodevelopmental outcomes, nonetheless these studies were widely heterogeneous in terms of method of cooling, tools for assessing developmental outcomes, age at assessment and variations in neuroimaging tools and reporting.

Conclusion: Therapeutic hypothermia is beneficial in LMICs with low certainty of evidence in reducing mortality and improving neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Keywords: China; India; developing countries; neonatal brain injury; perinatal asphyxia.