Decreasing trend in postneonatal mortality

The objective was to evaluate the postneonatal mortality rate at our institution from 1999 to 2006 as a follow-up to a previous report from our hospital covering 1993 to 1998 and to investigate the causes of death in infants dying in the postneonatal period.

We identified all infant deaths before discharge from the nursery aged > or =28 days. Clinical data for all cases and autopsy records where available were reviewed and the cause of death was determined for each infant.

Total nursery deaths for the 7 years were 211, of which 14 (6.6%) occurred after the neonatal period. This represents a decreasing trend from the 12% reported in 1993 to 1998. Causes of death were the complications of prematurity and congenital defects. The five infants whose cause of death was the complications of prematurity had chronic lung disease, four had abdominal surgery for perforation and resection and two had intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) Gr IV. All infants had multiple organ failure by the time of death and the final event was infection and/or renal failure. The nine congenital defects included two trisomy 21 with complications, one CHARGE association with heart defects, one hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and two others with multiple congenital heart defects. Of the three remaining infants, the anomalies included one with hydranencephaly, one with caudal regression and one with multiple vascular liver tumors.

Along with the general decrease in infant mortality, postneonatal mortality is decreasing as a percentage of nursery deaths. The causes of death include complications of prematurity and congenital defects.