A STUDY ON PERINATAL MORTALITIES AND ITS DETERMINANTS AT A TERTIARY HOSPITAL IN A METROPOLITAN CITY.

The aim of the study is to estimate the perinatal mortality rate and its determinants. A retrospective observational study was conducted at a tertiary hospital in Maharashtra, India of the perinatal mortalities born from January 2017 to December 2017 after Ethics Committee approval. Data was acquired from the Delivery register of the Labour room covering the maternal socio-demographic characteristics and the relevant investigations. The causes of perinatal mortality were simplified as per the Tulip Classification (2006). Statistical Analysis: The standard WHO formula for calculating the perinatal mortality rate was applied. Chi- square test followed by P-value were obtained through the Open Epi software, was used for estimating the statistically significant observations amongst the study results. The total births in the study period were 3461 and the perinatal deaths were 132. The Perinatal Mortality Rate computed to 39.65 per 1000 live births. Out of the 132 perinatal deaths, stillbirths were 89 and early neonatal deaths were 43.The perinatal mortalities were found to be highest in the age group of 30-35 years, multigravidae, unbooked and high risk obstetric patients and low birth weight newborns. Lack of antenatal registrations, unoptimised high risk pregnancies entering labour can potentially pose a threat to the delivery outcome.