Risk factors related to preventable infant mortality in Espirito Santo, Brazil

To analyse the factors associated with preventable of infant mortality, in Espirito Santo, Brazil.

Data were collected from records of notifiable of infant death of the Mortality Information System. A total of 5,089 infant deaths were classified as preventable and non-preventable according to the International Collaborative Effort on Infant Mortality (ICE) and the State System of Data Analysis Foundation (SEADE) methods. To investigate the factors associated with preventable of deaths, it was applied the logistic regression.

Approximately, 73% of the deaths were preventable according to the ICE, while 76% were preventable according to the SEADE method. Using to both methods, it was observed that preterm birth, postneonatal death and birth weight between 3000 and above 4,000 g represented higher chances for preventable infant deaths. Furthermore, the medical care was more likely to preventable infant death only for ICE method.

The factors related to the quality of care offered in the prenatal, prepartum and childbirth periods were more relevant for the occurrence of preventable infant death. Accordingly, it is recommended to strengthen mother-child care to detect risk pregnancies during prenatal care, as well as a hierarchical, regionalized and integrated perinatal network.