SETTING A Médecins Sans Frontières emergency obstetric and neonatal care facility specialising as a referral centre for three districts for women with complications during pregnancy or delivery in rural Burundi. OBJECTIVE To describe the characteristics and in-facility mortality rates of neonates born in 2011. DESIGN Descriptive study involving a retrospective review of routinely collected ...

Background Birth asphyxia is the leading cause of neonatal mortality in Kenya. Quality care during neonatal resuscitation (NR) can contribute to a reduction in neonatal mortality related to birth asphyxia by 30 percent. This study assessed the quality of care (QoC) during NR for newborns with birth asphyxia. Methods Direct observations of 138 newborn resuscitations were done in labor ward and...

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 c...

The clinicopathological associations of 33 singleton infants who died with intraventricular haemorrhage (IVH) without hyaline membrane disease (HMD) ('IVH only') were compared with those of 39 infants who died with IVH+HMD over the same gestation range in order to determine what factors other than those related to HMD may contribute to the pathogenesis of IVH. The incidence of 'IVH only' was in...

OBJECTIVE We investigated the influence of acute hypoxia on the placental vascular endothelial growth factor system in vitro and in vivo in acute birth asphyxia compared with pregnancies that were complicated by preeclampsia and with healthy control subjects. STUDY DESIGN Messenger RNA levels for vascular endothelial growth factor, flt-1, and KDR were measured by TaqMan real-time polymerase c...

BACKGROUND Millions of child deaths and stillbirths are attributable to birth asphyxia, yet limited information is available to guide policy and practice, particularly at the community level. We surveyed selected policymakers, programme implementers and researchers to compile insights on policies, programmes, and research to reduce asphyxia-related deaths. METHOD A questionnaire was developed...

No epidemiological surveys have examined risk factors related to the death of very low birth weight infants (VLBWIs) in Japan. The objectives of this study were to examine the death rate and fatalities related to complications among VLBWIs, and to analyze factors possibly determining the death of VLBWIs. The subjects of this study were 811 VLBWIs admitted to the Neonatal Care Center of Niigata ...

OBJECTIVE To determine the value of regional cerebral oxygen saturation (rSo2), fractional cerebral tissue oxygen extraction (FTOE) measured by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), and amplitude integrated electroencephalogram (aEEG) after birth asphyxia in relation to neurodevelopmental outcome. METHODS NIRS measured rSo2, FTOE, and aEEG were monitored simultaneously, together with arterial ox...

OBJECTIVE To analyse the trends in stillbirths, neonatal deaths, and cerebral palsy in all infants born in Western Australia from 1967 to 1985. To relate these trends to changes in perinatal care, particularly in relation to avoidance of intrapartum asphyxia in term infants and the increased survival of low birthweight infants. DESIGN Descriptive epidemiological study calculating population r...