FACTORS AFFECTING INFANT MORTALITY IN ABADAN, IRAN, DURING THE YEARS 2016-2017

The infant mortality rate is a reflection of the health status of the country. Undoubtedly, the first step in improving the level of this indicator is to identify the factors related to infant mortality. Based on this, the present study was conducted to determine the factors related to infant mortality in Abadan, Iran, during 2016 and 2017.

The present study is a descriptive-retrospective study. All died neonates during the year 2016 and 2017 (115 newborns) were evaluated and same number of live newborns were selected by random stratified sampling method from Abadan hospitals. Data gathered from the documents archived in hospitals of Abadan, and registered in the checklist of infants. SPSS version 21 was used to analyze the data.

The frequency of the main causes of neonatal death were: prematurity (49.6%), congenital anomalies (27%), respiratory distress syndrome (20.8%), death without cause (1.7%), and injuries during childbirth and cerebral hemorrhage (9.9%), respectively. None of these cases were observed in the group of live births. The infant mortality rates at different times of the neonatal period include: 43 infants in the first 2-7 days (37.4%), 26 infants in the first 12-24 hours of birth (22.6%), 18 infants in the first hour of birth (15.7%), 17 infants in the first 1-12 hours of birth (14.8%), 6 infants in the second week (5.2%), and 5 infants in the third week (4.3%).

Considering that the main causes of infant mortality in Abadan city are prematurity and congenital anomalies, and that there was a positive and significant relationship between the mode of delivery, age, mother's education and the infant mortality rate, education related to screenings before and during pregnancy, proper mother's nutrition and hygiene should be strengthened in these cases.