Introduction and Objective: Death has long been considered because of its substantial impacts on population dynamics. Specifically, child mortality is one of the most important indicators of development and one of the determinants of life expectancy. Investigation of child mortality causes and elimination of preventable cases can play a major role in the health and productivity of the community.
Materials and Methods: The present research was a retrospective study in which the medical records of dead children in Children’s Hospital of Tabriz were extracted from 2011 to 2016 and their demographics were recorded in special checklists. Finally, the obtained data were statistically analyzed.
Results: The most common causes of child mortality in the studied hospital were congenital heart defects (15%), cancer (8.8%), and other congenital anomalies (8.6%), respectively. The mortality rate for males and females was equal to 55.8% and 44.2%. In addition, the highest mortality rate was related to those aged one month to 2 years (83.8%) and then 2-7 years (10.2%), and 7-18 years (6.1%). The findings also indicated that most dead children were living in urban areas.
Discussion and Conclusion: Maternal nutrition improvement, gestational diabetes control, vaccination improvement, and increased awareness of health sector staff can be effective in reducing genetic anomalies and deaths caused by them. Therefore, special planning should be done for interventions such as referral for genetic counseling and genetic tests before cousin marriages. Moreover, pregnant women should be trained in unnecessary drug use and non-exposure to radiation and chemicals. |
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). CDC Grand Rounds: Public health approaches to reducing U.S. infant mortality. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2013; 62(31): 625-8.
- Mathews TJ, MacDorman MF. Infant mortality statistics from the 2004 period linked birth/infant death data set. National Vital Statistics Reports 2007; 55(14): 1-32.
- Barfield WD, Committee on Fetus and Newborn. Standard terminology for fetal, infant, and prinatal deaths. Pediatrics 2011; 128(1): 177-181.
- Hill K, You D, Inoue M, Oestergaard MZ. Child mortality estimation: accelerated progress in reducing global child mortality, 1990–2010. PLoS Medicine 2012; 9(8): e1001303.
- Rajaratnam JK, Marcus JR, Flaxman AD, Wang H, Levin-Rector A, Dwyer L, Costa M, Lopez AD, Murray CJ. Neonatal, postneonatal, childhood, and under-5 mortality for 187 countries, 1970–2010: a systematic analysis of progress towards Millennium Development Goal 4. Lancet 2010; 375(9730): 1988-2008.
- Wang H, et al. Global, regional, national, and selected subnational levels of stillbirths, neonatal, infant, and under-5 mortality, 1980–2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015. Lancet 2016; 388(10053): 1725-74.
- Wang H, et al. Global, regional, and national levels of neonatal, infant, and under-5 mortality during 1990–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. Lancet 2014; 384(9947): 957-79.
- Duke T, Michael A, Mgone J, Frank D, Wal T, Sehuko R. Etiology of child mortality in Goroka, Papua New Guinea: a prospective two-year study. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2002; 80(1): 16-25.
- Leisher SH, et al. Classification systems for causes of stillbirth and neonatal death, 2009-2014: an assessment of alignment with characteristics for an effective global system. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2016; 16(1): 269.
- Santos EPD, Ferrari RA, Bertolozzi MR, Cardelli AA, Godoy CB, Genovesi FF. Mortality among children under the age of one: analysis of cases after discharge from maternity. Revista da Escola de Enfermagem da USP 2016; 50(3): 390-8.
- Wang Y, Du M, Hao Z, Zhang H, Zhang Q, Hao W, Xi L, Sun J. Causes of death in children aged<15 years in the Inner Mongolia Region of China, 2008-2012. Global Journal of Health Science 2016; 8(9): 56176.
- Chaman R, Holakouie Naieni K, Golestan B, Nabavizadeh H, Yunesian M. Neonatal mortality risk factors in a rural part of Iran: a nested case-control study. Iranian Journal of Public Health 2009; 38(1): 48-52.
- Chaman R, et al. Important risk factors of mortality among children aged 1-59 months in rural areas of Shahroud, Iran: A Community-based Nested Case-Control Study. International Journal of Preventive Medicine 2012; 3(12): 875-9.
- World Health Organization. Department of Health Statistics and Informatics. Global health risks: mortality and burden of disease attributable to selected major risks. 2009.
- World Health Organization. World Health Statistics 2016: Monitoring health for the SDGs sustainable development goals. 2016.
- Moeni S. and Tamjidzad Z. Child mortality rate and its causes in rural areas of Ardabil province with emphasis on Pars-Abad city. Journal of Health 2010; 1(2): 52-8.
- Sharaki A, Mardani M, Arab M, Firoozkoohi Z. Infant under 1-59 month mortality causes in Zabol. Iranian Journal of Nursing Research 2010; 5(17): 6-13.
- Izadi N, Shetabi HR, Bakhtiari S, Janatalmakan M, Parabi M, Ahmadi K. The rate and causes of infant mortaliry in the hospitals of Kermanshah province during 2011-2014. Journal of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences 2016; 15(2): 129-38.
- Silva R. Child mortality estimation: consistency of under-five mortality rate estimates using full birth histories and summary birth histories. PLoS Medicine 2012; 9(8): e1001296.
- Peña R, Wall S, Persson LA. The effect of poverty, social inequity, and maternal education on infant mortality in Nicaragua, 1988-1993. American Journal of Public Health 2000; 90(1): 64-6.
- Jasseh M, et al. Disease-specific mortality burdens in a rural Gambian population using verbal autopsy, 1998–2007. Global Health Action 2014; 7(1): 25598.
- Callaghan WM, MacDorman MF, Rasmussen SA, Qin C, Lackritz EM. The contribution of preterm birth to infant mortality rates in the United States. Pediatrics 2006; 118(4): 1566-73.
|
