INVESTIGATING THE CAUSES OF INFANT MORTALITY IN IMAM-KHOMEINI AND MUSTAFA-KHOMEINI HOSPITALS, ILAM, 2012 TO 2016

Neonatal mortality is defined for death of infants under age of 4 weeks. It is considered as an important indicator for developing in a country. Despite many efforts that were done in the last years, unfortunately there is high rate of mortality in new born infants; the aim of this study investigated the causes of the mortality of infants hospitalized in NICU of Imam-Khomeini and Mustafa-Khomeini hospitals of Ilam from 2012 to 2016. The present research is a cross-sectional study, the statistical population of which includes all deceased infants who were hospitalized in NICU of Imam Khomeini and Mustafa Khomeini hospitals of Ilam from 2012 to 2016. The information related to gender, gestational age, age at birth, birth weight, mode of delivery, Apgar scores in the first and fifth minutes, history of breast disease of the mother, and cause of death were recorded and the collected data was analyzed using SPSS, version 20 and statistical tests of chi-square and T-test. Based on the findings of the analysis, the most common causes of mortality among infants were respiratory distress syndrome (60.3%), asphyxia (9.3%), congenital cardiovascular diseases (7%), sepsis (6.7%), Intracerebral hemorrhage (3.7%), and Disseminated intravascular coagulation (2.7%). There, also, turned out to be a significant relationship between being stillborn, birth weight of the stillborn infant, gestational age, 1st and 5th minutes Agar rate, and the cause of death. Considering the high incidence of infant mortality at gestational age of less than 37 weeks, implementing stricter caregiving in order to prevent Preterm labor, as the most important cause of infant mortality, is of particular importance in reducing infant mortality. Key Words: Neonatal Mortality, NICU, Ilam, Iran.