Neonatal near miss in the Birth in Brazil survey

This study used data from the Birth in Brazil survey, a nationwide hospital-based study of 24,197 postpartum women and their newborns, collected between February 2011 and July 2012. A three-stage cluster sampling design (hospitals, days, women) was used consisting of stratification by geographic region, type of municipality (capital or non-capital), and type of hospital financing. Logistic regression was used to identify variables that were potential predictors of neonatal mortality and neonatal near miss indicators. After testing nineteen variables, five were chosen to compose a set of neonatal near miss indicators (birth weight of less than 1,500 g, Apgar score of less than 7 in the 5th minute of life, use of mechanical ventilation, gestational age of less than 32 weeks and congenital malformations). The neonatal near miss rate in the Birth in Brazil survey was 39.2 per thousand live births, three and a half times higher than the neonatal mortality rate (11.1 per thousand). These neonatal near miss indicators were able to identify situations with a high risk of neonatal death.