Perinatal mortality in a Saudi maternity hospital

Perinatal mortality was analyzed in infants to mothers who delivered at the main Maternity hospital in Riyadh and who represented a large proportion of the obstetric population in the city. The crude perinatal mortality rate was 39.8 per 1000 births. The birth weight-specific mortality rates were compared with the corresponding Swedish rates. The ratio between the birth weight-specific mortality rates in Riyadh and Sweden increased from the lightest to the heaviest birth weight category. Thus the perinatal mortality rate was 2.3 times higher in infants less than 1500 g, and 8.8 times higher in infants with birth weights of 3500 g and more. Similarly, the ratio between the gestational age-specific mortality rates in Riyadh and Sweden increased with advancing gestational age. The perinatal mortality rate of infants less than 28 weeks was 1.6 times higher, and that of term infants 4.8 times higher than in Sweden. The findings indicated shortcomings in the obstetric services. The perinatal mortality rate of teenage mothers, who comprised 17 percent of the material, was 9.1 times the Swedish rate. Other risk groups were para 0 mothers and mothers with a previous infant loss.