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Perinatal mortality at King Fahd Hospital of The University Al‐Khobar, Saudi Arabia
Author(s) -
ElZibdeh Mazen Y.,
AlSuleiman Suleiman A.,
AlSibai Mohammad H.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
international journal of gynecology and obstetrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.895
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1879-3479
pISSN - 0020-7292
DOI - 10.1016/0020-7292(88)90336-0
Subject(s) - medicine , perinatal mortality , fetal distress , obstetrics , singleton , intrauterine death , pediatrics , fetal death , fetus , mortality rate , pregnancy , surgery , genetics , biology
The perinatal deaths of all singleton births that occurred at King Fahd Hospital of the University, Al‐Khobar, Saudi Arabia during a 4‐year period are analysed. The causes of death are classified into 12 groups using an extended modification of the Aberdeen classification. There were 165 perinatal deaths in 8057 singleton births, giving a perinatal mortality rate of 20.47 per 1000 total births. Fetal malformations occurred in 29 (17.57%) cases. Of the remaining 136 normal infants, 77 (56.6%) were stillbirths and 59 (43.4%) died within 1 week of delivery. Spontaneous premature labor was the commonest cause of death (23.52%) followed by birth trauma (11%) and maternal diseases (9.55%). The cause of death was not known in 22 (16.17%) cases. In conclusion, prevention of premature labor, better intrapartum fetal monitoring, early recognition of fetal distress and improvement of neonatal care should reduce the perinatal mortality rate.