Analysis of High-Risk Infant Births and Their Mortality: Ten Years' Data from Chonnam National University Hospital

Prematurity and low birth weight are major factors associated with neonatal morbidity and mortality, and their incidence is not decreasing despite an annual decrease in the total number of live births in Korea. The objective of this study was to establish a strategy to reduce neonatal mortality by analyzing the clinical characteristics of high-risk infant births along with their mortality and causes of death. We retrospectively surveyed the medical records of infants born at Chonnam National University Hospital and of patients admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for 10 years from October 1999 to December 2008. Premature and low birth weight infants were almost half of the live births, and their NICU admission rate increased with increases in the numbers of outborns and multiples. Also, their mortality decreased dramatically over the past 10 years. About 60% of deaths occurred within 1 week of life, and the causes of death were mostly related to prematurity. Perinatal asphyxia was the major cause of death in infants less than 1 week old, whereas sepsis was the major cause after 4 weeks of age. The major cause of death was sepsis in premature or low birth weight infants and perinatal asphyxia in term or normal weight infants. The major cause of death was sepsis in inborns and perinatal asphyxia in outborns. Our results suggest that medical personnel training for immediate postnatal care including neonatal resuscitation, infection control, and a systematic team approach to regionalization are all needed to reduce the mortality rate.