Study of Morbidity and Mortality Pattern of Neonates Admitted in Rajshahi Medical College Hospital

Abstract

Background: Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) is a tertiary care, teaching and referral centre in the North-West part of Bangladesh. The morbidity and mortality indices in neonates admitted in a tertiary care hospital, like RMCH is needed to measure for developing effective health care planning, appropriate resource allocation and integration of existing health care service facilities of this region. Objective: To identify the common causes of morbidity and mortality of neonates admitted in the department of Pediatrics, Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH), Rajshahi. Methods: This was a retrospective study. The collected case records of all neonates admitted in the department of Pediatrics from January 2017 to December 2019 ( a period of 3 years) were analyzed. Results: A total of 28978 neonates were admitted during the mentioned study period. The ratio of male (16342) and female (12636) neonates was 1.3:1. Major causes of morbidity were perinatal asphyxia (PNA) (29.7%), preterm low birth weight (PT LBW) (21.6%), sepsis (11%), respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) (6.2%), jaundice(5.9%), meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS)(4.2%), transient tachypnoea of newborn (TTN)(3.2%), hypoglycaemia(3.1%) and congenital anomalies (2.6%). The leading causes of neonatal mortality were PNA(30%) followed by PT-LBW (23%), sepsis (16.3%), MAS(6.9%) and RDS (5.6%). Overall mortality in this study was 19.1%. Conclusion: Perinatal asphyxia (PNA) was the commonest cause of morbidity and mortality and meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS) was the commonest cause of case fatality of neonates admitted in Pediatric unit of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital. Admission related comprehensive evaluation of this study will help to understand the diseases and death patterns of a hospital leading to develop more effective planning and case management strategies