NEUROLOGICAL DISEASES AND MORTALITY RISK IN A NEONATAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT IN LIMA, PERU

Objectives: To determine the mortality risk associated to neurologic disease in newborns at a local neonatal intensive care unit.

Methods: Design: Retrospective, analytical study. Setting: Cayetano Heredia National Hospital neonatal intensive care unit, Lima, Peru Patients: Newborns who stayed at the NICU from January to December 2004. Analysis: Risk was estimated with Chi square test and OR values.

Results: From a total 106 patients who had neurologic disease, 43 died (40.6%). Mortality risk in patients who had neurologic disease was three times higher than that of newborns without neurologic disease. (40.6% vs. 17.5%, OR 3.23 (CI 1.7–6.1) p<0.001). Mortality was higher for the following diseases: intraventricular hemorrhage (70.8%) and hipoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (41%). Mortality risk was higher for preterm babies, low birth weight babies, and during the first week of hospital stay.

Conclusion: Despite favorable outcome described in other countries and settings, we found a strikingly high mortality risk in newborns with neurologic disease who needed intensive care. It is urgent to change care strategies to prevent these adverse outcomes.