RESUMO
Variations in mortality rates are important because they permit inferences about quality of care. Examination of care practices associated with variations in mortality rates can provide insights into how care practices might be changed to improve outcomes. The purpose of this study is to determine and report important causes of admission, incidence and causes of death for a large group of infants admitted to our neonatal intensive care unit [NICU]. The study comprised all 826 infants admitted to our tertiary-level NICU from April 2003 to October 2004. Data of newborns admitted to the NICU were analyzed retrospectively. Overall, the most prevalent indications of admission to our NICU were neonatal jaundice [n=296 [35.8%], infection [n=186 [22.5%], prematurity [n=162 [19.6%]], hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy [HIE] [n=101[12.2%]], respiratory distress syndrome [RDS] [n=79 [9.6%], congenital heart disease [CHD] [n=44 [5.3%]], transient tachypnea of the newborn [TTN] [n=40[4.8%]], chromosomal or congenital anomalies [n=40[4.8%]]. The overall mortality rate was 29.1% [240 deaths]. The mortality rate was 69.4% for infants with birth weight less than 1000 g. 2.1% of the deaths = [n=5] occurred within the first 24 hours of NICU admission, 15.8% [n=38] within 2 days and 29.2% [n=70] within 3 days, and 91.3% [n=219] within 12 days. Only 8.75% of deaths [n=21] occurred after the fist month of NICU admission. The most prevalent conditions associated with death in The NICU were infection [135deaths [56.25%], RDS [64 deaths [26.7]], HIE [45deaths [18.8%], CHD [25 deaths [10.4%] and chromosomal or congenital anomalies [18 deaths [17.5%]]. Sex was not a significant predictor of death on multivariate analysis. Mortality rate in the NICU still unacceptably high, these results highlight the fact that many causes of neonatal deaths may be preventable