[Prognosis for infants treated in pediatric intensive care units]

The first part of the inquiry reported herein is dealing with the diagnostic distribution and the death-rate of a population of 1,607 newborns, admitted for vital distress and treated in an intensive care unit for children from 1969 to 1972. Global death-rate reached 30%. 49% of the patients were admitted for different neonatal respiratory diseases: they were responsible for 31% of the deaths. Perinatal cerebral suffering was the principal cause for admission for 15% of the newborns: with a 40% death-rate, it was responsible for 20% of deaths. However, from 1969 to 1972, global death-rate was constantly decreasing, from 36 to 24%. This improvement concerns especially the respiratory diseases and the perinatal cerebral suffering.