Causes of Infant Mortality in Babol, Northern Iran

Infant mortality is an important health indicator. In order to reduce infant mortality, its causes should be considered in each region so that steps can be taken to improve the quality of health care and treatment. Therefore, this study was conducted in order to determine the causes of infant mortality in Babol, northern Iran.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on all infants who died in public and private hospitals of Babol. The cause of infant death was extracted and analyzed based on the International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD-10) and also based on laboratory, clinical and paraclinical evidence recorded in the files.

Out of a total of 16,005 live births in Babol, 123 infants (7.6%) died, of which 53 (43.1%) died in the first 24 hours of life. The mean gestational age of the deceased cases was 31.4±5.5 weeks, the mean birth weight was 1705.4±1045.3 grams, and their mean life span was 5.4±6.6 days. The most common causes of infant mortality were prematurity (30%), congenital anomalies (25.3%), sepsis (17.1%) and respiratory distress syndrome (13%).

The results of the study showed that the most common causes of infant mortality are prematurity and congenital anomalies.