Objective: Pulmonary air-leakage, pneumothorax [ptx], is a severe life-threatening complication in neonates especially pre mature neonates. The study is focused to assess the factors that predispose the neonates to such complications and the frequency of pneumothorax among the premature low birth weight [lbw] infants, under mechanical ventilation. Methods: This is a cross sectional study, conducted in 119 Low birth weight premature intubated infants at neonatal intensive care unit of Allied

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... ital Faisalabad. This study was done in 18 months from January 2017 to June 2018. Gestational age[GA], Birth weight, sex, initial diagnosis, mode of delivery, respirator settings, 5th minute apgar score and history of surfactant therapy were noted and recorded in all neonates with or without pneumothorax. Multivariate and Univariate regression analysis were done. Results: In our study, 43 [36.13%] infants developed pneumothorax. The mean gestational age of the affected neonates with pneumothorax [case group] was 29±4.19 Weeks and the gestational age of neonates with no pneumothorax [control group] was 30.09±3.01 weeks. The mean birth weight of the infants under study in both the groups were 1295 ± 395gr and 1502 ± 512grams respectively. In the neonates of case group 71% and in the control group 49% were delivered by cesarean section. 55.7% of the infants of case group and 52.9% of the control group were of male sex. No statistical significance was recorded among the mentioned items. Respiratory distress was found to be the most common lung disease in both the groups. The rate of pneumothorax was found to be higher in cases having low apgar score on 5th minute [P=0.006]. The frequency of pneumothorax was recorded to be low in patients who were treated with surfactant therapy [P=0.023]. Only low apgar score at 5th minute increased the risk of pneumothorax. Conclusion: The frequency of pneumothorax in our study was a [...]