Improvements in birth weight-specific neonatal mortality rates in the state of Qatar between 2003 & 2010 and a comparative analysis with the Vermont Oxford Network database report of 2007: A pearl study review

Abstract

Objective:The study aimed to develop a national reference on birth weight-specific neonatal survival in the State of Qatar to facilitate parental counseling.Study Design:This was a retrospective, analytic, and comparative study.Materials and Methods:The birth weight-specific neonatal mortality data for the years 2003 and 2010, collected from the admission and discharge registers of the neonatal intensive care unit, were stratified using the stratifications given in Vermont Oxford Network (VON) 2007 annual report. Category-wise birth weight-specific mortality and relative risk (RR) of death were compared between Qatar data (2003 and 2010) and VON 2007 report.Results:Qatar's neonatal mortality rate (NMR) dropped from 5 of 1000 in 2003 to 4.4 of 1000 in 2010 (P=0.443) which was significant for birth weight categories 501–750 g and 751–1000 g (P=0.026 and P=0.05, respectively). Qatar's NMR in 2010 was significantly lower than VON's NMR during 2007 (P<0.001) though VON's NMR was significantly lower among birth weight categories 751–1000 g and 1001–1500 g (P=0.001 and P=0.003, respectively). The RR of mortality decreased with increasing birth weight. The decline was very sharp for birth weight categories between 500 and 1500g. The RR was 25 times higher in babies with birth weight less than 750 g as compared to babies with birth weight ≥ 2550 g, both in Qatar and VON data. For birth weight categories 751–1000 g and 1001–1500 g, the RR was twice in Qatar as compared to the VON report (16.8 versus 7.8, and 5.5 versus 2.7, respectively).Conclusions:Qatar's current overall and birth weight-specific NMRs are comparable with the VON report except in birth weight categories 751–1000 g and 1001–1500 g which were higher in Qatar. This needs further in-depth qualitative analysis.

Neonatal Mortality in a Tertiary Care Private Set Up in Saudi Arabia

“…Neonatal mortality increases with decreasing gestational age at birth and decreasing weight at birth. The lower the gestational age and birth weight, the higher is the mortality [11,12]. Babies weighing <1500 g have a mortality risk at least 100-fold higher than those with an optimal weight (weight associated with lowest mortality) [13].…”

Neonatal deaths in infants born weighing ≥ 2500 g in low and middle-income countries

“…The NMR is much higher in resource constrained countries than in well-resourced countries, although exceptions exist [ 2 ]. Babies with a birthweight ≥ 2500 g account for more than 80% of the births in most resource limited locations, and often account for nearly half of the neonatal deaths [ 3 ]. Because of the continuing focus on preterm and low-birthweight births, which are higher risk but account for only about half the neonatal deaths, information on mortality for babies born with a birth weight of ≥ 2500 g is limited.…”

“…In many high-resource settings, substantial improvements have been made in neonatal outcomes, with deaths in babies with a birth weight of ≥ 2500 g substantially reduced [ 3 ]. For example, in 2015 in Europe, 94%–95% of births were ≥ 2500 g and these births accounted for 24% of the neonatal mortality [ 4 ].…”