Mortality rate of newborns hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit of Ayatollah Taleghani Hospital in Ilam from 2018-2019

The infant mortality rate is one of the most important parameters for evaluating the health index in societies. The present study aimed to investigate the mortality rate of infants hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) (Ayatollah Taleghani Hospital, Ilam) from 2018-2019.

This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on infants hospitalized in the NICU department of Ayatollah Taleghani Hospital in Ilam, from April 2018 to March 2019. The sampling was performed using the census method. The data collection tools included a demographic questionnaire and a researcher-made checklist. The collected data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 26) using chi-square and independent t-tests at a significance level (P<0.05).

In the current study, the total number of infants hospitalized in the NICU was 83, and 28 infants died, of whom 11 (30.6%) cases were girls and 17 (36.2%) neonates were boys. The mean age of deceased infants was 32.67 weeks. The most common type of disease at the time of death in these infants was asphyxia, with a frequency of 35.7% (n=10). Age and gender showed no significant relationship with mortality (P>0.05).

Due to the high mortality rate in premature neonates with less than 32 weeks of gestation, effective measures should be put on the agenda to prevent premature birth and respiratory distress syndrome.