A retrospective study on neonatal mortality over 6 years in a rural teaching hospital

this study was conducted to find out the neonatal mortality pattern and to identify primary causes of neonatal deaths in NICU of the rural hospital attached the medical college. The present retrospective observational study was conducted in the NICU of a rural tertiary hospital of West India between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2017. The inclusion criteria ABSTRACT Background: India has a high neonatal mortality rate (NMR) of 31/1000 live births that of rural being 34 while urban is 17. Approximately two-thirds of the newborn deaths usually occur in the 1 st week of life. Objective: This study was conducted to identify primary causes of neonatal deaths and to analyze the trend over 6 years. Methods: This was a record-based observational study of all the neonatal deaths born in a tertiary hospital of West India over 6 years (January 2012–December 2017). All the admitted babies to neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) were included in the study. Details of each neonatal death were analyzed. Results: Out of the total 6561 births, there were 146 neonatal deaths during the study period. The maximum NMR was 36.2/1000 live births in the year 2012. There was decreasing trend of death rate over 5 years with marginal increase in the year 2017 (16.6/1000 live births), attributed to congenital malformations and perinatal asphyxia. Among them, 87% were low birth weight, 61% were male, and 71.9% were preterm. The causes of neonatal death were septicemia, extreme prematurity, respiratory distress syndrome, birth asphyxia, meconium aspiration, and congenital anomalies. Conclusions: In the present study, NMR showed decreasing trend over 6 years. Prevention of premature delivery, proper management of very low birth weight babies, and early detection and appropriate management of septicemia/perinatal hypoxia have become important interventional strategies in reducing neonatal deaths.