Factors associated with neonatal near miss in Brazil

This study evaluates the association between sociodemographic factors, maternal characteristics, organization of health services and neonatal near miss in public and private maternity hospitals in Brazil.

This is a prospective cohort of live births from the Nascer no Brasil survey, carried out between 2011 and 2012. Variables were established from the literature and organized on three levels: distal, intermediate, and proximal. The assessment was performed based on results of the bivariate analyzes and their respective p-values, with a significance level <0.20, using the Wald test. For multivariate analysis, the variables contained at the distal level were inserted, preserved in the model when significant (p < 0.05). This was also done when adjusting the intermediate and proximal levels.

At the distal level, no variable was significantly associated with the outcome. At the intermediate level, mother's age greater than or equal to 35 years (relative risk - RR = 1.32; 95%CI 1.04-1.66), cesarean delivery (RR = 1.34; 95%CI 1.07-1.67), smoking (RR = 1.48; 95%CI 1.04-2.10), gestational hypertensive syndrome (RR = 2.29; 95%CI 1.98-3.14), pre-gestational diabetes (RR = 2.63; 95%CI 1.36-5.05) and twin pregnancy (RR = 2.98; 95%CI 1.90-4.68) were variables associated with the outcome. At the proximal level, inadequate prenatal care (RR = 1.71; 95%CI 1.36-2.16) and the hospital/maternity being located in a capital city (RR = 1.89; 95%CI 1.40-2.55) were associated with neonatal near miss.

The results show that neonatal near miss was influenced by variables related to the organization of health services and by maternal characteristics.