Neonatal Mortality at Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu

Abstract

Background: Neonatal mortality is a major reason for the persistence of high infant and childhood mortality in the developing world. Frequent determinations of the factors associated with neonatal mortality are desirable for effective planning of interventions aimed at reducing neonatal mortality rates.

Objective: To determine the trend in neonatal mortality in a teaching hospital over a ten-year period.

Methods: The records of neonates admitted into the neonatal unit of Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), Sagamu between January 1996 and December 2005 were reviewed. Data extracted from the records included age, sex, weight, place of birth, major clinical diagnoses and outcome of admission. "

Results: Out of a total of 2,933 neonates admitted into the unit, 773 deaths occurred (263.6/ 1000 admissions). These consisted of 168 (21.7 percent) in-born and 605 (78.3 percent) out born babies. Of these 773 deaths, 559 (72.3 percent) were early neonatal deaths (END) and 74.8 percent of these occurred within the first 24 hours of admission. Low birth weight babies constituted 67.4 percent of these deaths. The mortality rate among in-born babies was significantly lower than that of out-born babies (14.8 percent vs 33.5 percent; p = 0.00000). The neonatal mortality rate (NMR) for the hospital ranged between 25.6/1000 live births and 72.4/1000 live births. The mortality rate for out-born babies was 336.5/1000 admissions. The leading clinical conditions associated with neonatal deaths were preterm births (38.7 percent), perinatal asphyxia (25.1 percent), septicaemia (10.5 percent), neonatal hyperbilirubinaemia (9.9 percent) and tetanus (7.9 percent).

Conclusion: Neonatal mortality in the hospital was high over the ten-year period studied. Facilitated access to quality obstetric and immediate post-delivery neonatal care is required to improve neonatal survival in Nigeria.