32
3.7.1 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 500gm 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 500gm and above or gestation 22 weeks and above x 1000 LBs
No live births LBs Neonatal mortality rate
No neonatal deaths 28 days BW 500gm and above or gestation 22 weeks and above x 1000 LBs
No live births LBs
Fig 14 shows the number of total births and neonatal deaths in all the centres in the study. The perinatal, early neonatal and neonatal mortality rates were calculated to be
14.3 per 1000 TBs, 4.8 and 6.2 per 1000 LBs respectively
.
Fig. 15. Total births and neonatal deaths and mortality rates, 2004
Total Births 196824
No Stillbirths 1884
No Live births 194940
Inborn deaths 7 days early neonatal deaths 934
Inborn deaths 28 days neonatal deaths 1209
Perinatal mortality rate 14.3 per 1000 TBs
Early neonatal mortality rate 4.8 per 1000TBs
Neonatal mortality rate 6.2 per 1000 LBs
These rates are high when compared to the overall national figures which were 10.0, 3.9 and 4.9 respectively. Health Management and Information System HMIS Ministry of
Health 2002 data. This is expected as these NICUs are tertiary centres handling high risk pregnancies and sick babies.
33
3.7.2 Discharge Babies are usually discharged straight home from the participating NICUs in the hospital.
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. The duration of hospital stay is dependent on many factors especially gestational age and
birth weight and whether babies survived. Of all the babies 1726 who died 642 37.2 died within 24 hours. For those who died
after the 1
st
day mean duration of hospital stay were 15.0 +- 26.2 days. Of the survivors some stayed for 24 hours either discharged at own risk or had very
mild illnesses. Of the other survivors the mean duration of hospital stay was 26.3 +- 25.0 days. Table 29 and Table 30 The duration of hospital stay for survivors decreased
with increasing gestation and BWs. Fig 16.
Fig 16. Mean duration of hospital stay for survivors who stayed beyond 24 hours according to gestational age and BW group, 2004
20 40
60 80
100 120
22 501
24 701
26 901
28 110
1 30
130 1
32 150
1 34
Stay in days
Gestation in weeks BW groups in grams
Foot note BW group 1501-2500g BW group 2501g and above
34
4. Tables