Perinatal mortality during fifteen-year period in Tuzla Canton, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

THE AIM To determine the incidence of perinatal mortality, as well as the frequency of premature deliveries. METHODS We analyzed the data of birth protocol at the Clinics for Gynecology and Obstetrition at the University Clinical Centre in Tuzla in period 1992-2006. RESULTS Perinatal mortality gradually declines in the period of 1992-2000. The decline owns mostly to early neonatal mortality more than to fetal which also shows the trend of decrease. During the first analyzed years (1992 and 1993) the incidence of premature deliveries was below 10% but that number increased during 1994 and 1995 (15.8%). The most interesting finding is that the highest level of incidence of premature deliveries was registered in the first postwar year--1996 (16.4%) when we also noted the largest number of deliveries for the analyzed period and most of which were finished between 32 and 36 weeks. The frequency of delivery of underweight babies (500-2499 g) was between 3.8 to 12.2%. The highest frequency was registered during the 1994 and 1995 when it reached 12.2%. The frequency of delivery of extremely underweight babies (500-999 g) for the analyzed period was about 0.1% with significant increase during the wartime (1995 even 0.6%). CONCLUSION We found that during the period of 15 years a significant decline of perinatal mortality is registered, due to early neonatal death. Limited accessibility and quality of perinatal health care during the war period had detrimental effects on the healt and survival of newborns.