Perfil epidemiológico dos neonatos nascidos em uma maternidade-escola na Paraíba

Abstract

Introduction: Infant mortality (IM) is one of the key indicators of a population s quality of life. It may be classified into neonatal or postneonatal mortality and its calculation shows the occurrence of deaths in children under one year old per 1,000 live births. The morbidity profile is also important to assess the quality of health and the needs of this group. The integral care during childhood aims to ensure the healthy physical, biological, psychological and social development, being an ideological part of the current health policies in Brazil. The epidemiological investigation of the conditions of pregnancy, delivery and birth, as well as the maternal and neonatal intercurrences, provides information to evaluate actions of the Reduction of Infant Mortality Pact and public health policies in Paraíba. Objectives: Describe the epidemiological profile of the neonates born in a school-maternity in Paraíba, which is a reference place concerning high-risk deliveries, considering the conditions of prenatal, delivery and birth. Methods: A prospective cohort of birth was conducted, including all the live births in the school-maternity during the period from September and December, in 2010. Two questionnaires were applied, the first one in the maternity and the second one 30 days after the birth to investigate questions about the pregnancy, the delivery and the birth and morbidity referred in the first month of life. In the follow-up interview, an assessment of the child s growth and development was conducted. It was made a descriptive analysis of the data and survival analysis, considering as outcome, the neonatal morbidities and deaths. The study was aproved by the local ethics research committee. Results: 126 neonates were tracked. 9 fetal malformations were recorded, 6 neonatal deaths and 6 cases of neonatal near miss (neonatal mortality rate = 42,8 per 1000 live births). The most frequent neonatal morbidities were jaundice, respiratory tract problems, gastrointestinal, infections, skin and breast feeding. Conclusions: The investigation of morbidities and neonatal deaths is an important strategy to track this population group and provides planning measures to prevent avoidable deaths in the health facilities, including the areas identified as priorities, such as the brazilian northeast. Even being a referential maternity, the number of occurrences, deaths and morbidities was high, requiring corrective measures. The technological qualification in both risk deliveries and births, as well as the appropriate neonatal risk support is necessary to minimize these occurrences.