Survival rate of babies of birth weight between 501-1000 g and 22-27 weeks gestational age
                                                                                66
Figure 53. Number and survival rate of babies 22-27 weeks GA according to centres 3.12 Perinatal and neonatal mortality rates
These are important indicators of both obstetric and neonatal outcomes. The  births  are  obtained  by  records  of  all  births  in  the  hospitals  of  each  neonatal  unit  and  the
mortality rates are calculated pertaining to that for inborn babies only. Perinatal mortality rate
No. stillbirths + neonatal deaths  7 days BW 500 g and above or gestation 22 weeks and above                                                  x 1000 TBs
No. total births TBs Early Neonatal mortality rate
No. neonatal deaths  7 days BW 500 g and above or gestation 22 weeks and above                                                  x 1000 LBs
No. livebirths LBs Neonatal mortality rate
No. neonatal deaths  28 days BW 500 g and above or gestation 22 weeks and above                                                  x 1000 LBs
No. livebirths LBs
68 67 61 59 59 58
56 55 52 51 50
48 47 45 44 43 43 42 42
41 40 39 39 34 34 34 33 32
25 24 20
16 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80
22 11 24 16 27 12 28 31  3  23  7  9  20 10 33 29 30 17 14 15 21 26 13  5  19  2  25 32  4  8  18  6 P
e rc
e n
ta g
e s
u rv
iv a
l N
u m
b e
r o
f b
a b
ie s
Fig. 53  Survival of 22-27 weeks GA according to gestational age and centers
All patients 22-27 weeks GA No. survived
Survival rate
67
The birth census in Appendix 3 shows the form for the number of total births and stillbirths, and the number  of  neonatal  deaths  in  all  the  centres    obtained  from  the  study.  The  2008  perinatal,  early
neonatal  and  neonatal  mortality  rates  were  calculated  to  be  13.2  per  1000  TBs,  4.7  and  6.2  per 1000 LBs respectively, for our SDP group.
Total births, neonatal deaths and mortality rates, 2008 Total Births
258635 No. Stillbirths
2198 No. Livebirths
256437 Inborn deaths 7 days early neonatal deaths
1216 Inborn deaths  28 days neonatal deaths
1577 Stillbirth rate
8.6 per 1000 TBs Perinatal mortality rate  PMR                                 13.2 per 1000TBs
Early neonatal mortality rate  Early NMR                 4.7 per 1000 LBs Neonatal mortality rate NMR                                   6.2 per 1000 LBs
Figure 54. Centre Mortality rates
These  mortality  rates  are  high  when  compared  to  the  overall  national  figures  which  were  7.7  for PMR,  2.9  for  Early  NMR  and  3.7  for  NMR  see  Figure  52.  This  is  expected  as  these  NICUs  are
tertiary centres handling high risk pregnancies and sick babies.
0.0 5.0
10.0 15.0
20.0 25.0
2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15 16 17  18  19  20  21  22  23  24  25  26  27 28  29  30  31  32  33 M
o rt
a li
ty r
a te
p e
r 1
b ir
th s
Centre Number
Fig. 54  Centre mortality rates
Stillbirth rate Neonatal mortality rate
Perinatal mortality rate
68
3.13 Discharge Babies were usually discharged straight home from the participating NICUs in the hospitals. Some
may  have  been  discharged  from  a  paediatric  ward  following  extended  care  after  NICU  stay  e.g. babies with prolonged oxygen requirement, or rarely transferred elsewhere.
For survivors the mean duration of hospital stay according to gestation and birthweight groups are as shown  in Tables 55  and 55a-e and Figure 55. The shorter stay of babies 500 g birth weight or
below was related to their lower survival rate.
Figure 55. Duration of hospital stay of survivors  according to birthweight category
The  duration  of  hospital  stay  is  dependent  on  many  factors  especially  gestational  age  and  birth weight  and  whether  babies  survived.  About  80  of  all  deaths  in  the  NICUs  occur  within  the  first
week of life Figure 56.
Figure 56. Number and percentage of deaths according to gestational age and centre
20 40
60 80
100 120
140 160
501 -1000 1001 - 1500
1501 - 2500 2500
N u
m b
e r
o f
d a
y s
Birth weight grams
Fig. 55     Duration of hospital stay of survivors according to birthweight category
20 40
60 80
100 120
140
2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 P
e rc
e n
ta g
e N
u m
b e
r o
f d
e a
th s
Centre Number
Fig. 56 Number and percentage of geaths according to gestational age and centre
Deaths 7 days Deaths 28days
deaths in first week of all neonatal deaths
69
3.14 Enteral nutrition on discharge 3.14.1 Enteral nutrition on discharge by gestational age
Majority of the babies 38 were on mixed feeding on discharge.  Three thousand seven hundered and twenty five  babies 33 were breastfed and 10 percent were on formula feeding on discharge.
Nineteen percent of the babies were not fed enterally mainly because they were too ill to be fed and had died before enteral feeding could be commenced.
The feeding  pattern  was  the  same  in  the  different gestational  age groups  whereby    mixed  feeding was the main type of feeding on discharge.
Figure 57. Enteral feeding on discharge by gestational age
3.14.2 Enteral feeding on discharge by  birth weight
500 1000
1500 2000
2500 3000
3500 4000
4500 5000
22 22 - 24
25 - 27 28 - 31
32 - 36 No Feeding
Mix Feeding Formula Feeding
Breast Feeding
200 400
600 800
1000 1200
1400 1600
Breast Feeding Formula Feeding
Mix Feeding
70
Figure 58. Enteral feeding on discharge by birth weight
Mixed feeding was the commonest type of feeding in  all birth weight groups except for the 2500 g group where slightly more babies were breastfed.
3.14.3 Breastfeeding rate on discharge by centre
Figure 59. Breastfeeding rate on discharge by centre
Nine thousand four hundred and forty three   babies were discharged alive in 2008. Of these 3723 39.43  were  breastfedon  discharge.  Seven  centres    Centres  3,17,18,  21,  23,  32  and  33    had
more  than  50  babies  who  were  breastfed  on  discharge..  Centre  3  had  the  highest  percentage 87.31 of exclusively breastfed babies on discharge.
3.14.4 Enteral feeding on discharge and NEC The incidence of NEC among VLBW babies who were exclusively breastfed on discharge was 2.4.
The rate in the exclusively formula fed and mixed feeding on discharge groups was higher at 3.8. Breast Feeding and NEC among
Babies ≤ 1500 grams
Fig. 60  Type of feeding among the ELBWs Versus NEC
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90
1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33
22  18
103  82
BF NEC Not BF NEC
                                            
                