MORTALIDADE PERINATAL: UMA ANÁLISE COM ENFOQUE NA EVITABITABILIDADE

The study analyses the evitability of perinatal deaths in Piripiri in the state of Piaui in 2008 and considers its importance in the composition of infant mortality. Data for determining the coefficients of infant mortality were taken from the Ministry of Health’s ‘System for Information on Mortality’ and ‘System for Information on Live Births’. Death certificates and the files on perinatal deaths were also analysed. Data was grouped according to Wigglesworth’s evitability classification system, whose parameters are time of death, birth weight and basic cause. It is concluded that, despite the low Infant Mortality coefficient observed, perinatal mortality still represents a challenge for efforts to reduce infant mortality in the county, considering that 61.9% of perinatal deaths analysed appeared to have been evitable. This should serve as a stimulus to improvement in prenatal care, obstetric management and neonatal care.