TITLE:
Late Neonatal Mortality at Teaching Hospital of Brazzaville (Congo)
AUTHORS:
Gaston Ekouya Bowassa, Engoba Moyen, Néli Yvette Ngakengni, Annie Rachelle Okoko
KEYWORDS:
Mortality, Late, Newborns, Prematurity
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Pediatrics,
Vol.10 No.1,
January
19,
2020
ABSTRACT: Background: Neonatal mortality is a major public health problem. Its reduction is one of the targets of the objectives for sustainable
development. Objectives: To determine the frequency of late neonatal mortality, to determine the
causes of death and to identify the factors associated with late neonatal
mortality at Brazzaville University Hospital. Patients and methods: This
was a descriptive and analytical study conducted in the neonatal department of
the Brazzaville University Hospital from 1 January to 30 June 2018. It concerned
all newborns admitted to the service and died between 7th and 28th day of life. The
variables studied were epidemiological, clinical and evolutionary. For the study
of the factors associated with late mortality, we compared the deceased
newborns with those hospitalized in the service whose stay was at least seven
days. The materiality threshold was 5%. Results: During the study period,
697 newborns were admitted to the service, 286 (41%) died, 79 (27.6%) on the
seventh day or beyond. The median age at admission was one hour. These were
male (44.3%) and female (55.7%) newborns. The causes of death were prematurity
(50.7%), neonatal infection (36.7%), perinatal asphyxia (6.3%) and others
(6.3%). The mean age at death was 13.5 ± 6.4 days (range: 7 and 28 days).
Prematurity OR = 3.62 (95% CI: 1.2 - 10.6) is the factor associated with late
mortality. Conclusion: Reducing late neonatal mortality requires the
implementation of measures to improve the human and material capacities of the
service.