Maternal and Child Health

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Editorial

Mortality for Critical Congenital Heart Diseases and Associated Risk Factors in Newborns. A Cohort Study

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is any change in the anatomy of the heart and its blood vessels that occurs within the first 8 weeks of gestation. The manifestation of CHD is very variable and may occur soon after birth or appear later in childhood or adolescence.

The incidence of CHD is 8 to 10 per 1000 live births, or one in one hundred births. In Brazil, 28,900 children are born with CHD per year (1% of the total birth), of which about 80% (23,800) need cardiac surgery, and half of them need to be operated in the first year of life.

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Original Article

Infant Mortality in Novo Hamburgo: Associated Factors and Cardiovascular Causes

Camila de Andrade Brum et al. Airton Tetelbom Stein Lucia Campos Pellanda

Background:

Infant mortality has decreased in Brazil, but remains high as compared to that of other developing countries. In 2010, the Rio Grande do Sul state had the lowest infant mortality rate in Brazil. However, the municipality of Novo Hamburgo had the highest infant mortality rate in the Porto Alegre metropolitan region.

Objective:

To describe the causes of infant mortality in the municipality of Novo Hamburgo from 2007 to 2010, identifying which causes were related to heart diseases and if they were diagnosed in the prenatal period, and to assess the access to healthcare services.

Methods:

This study assessed infants of the municipality of Novo Hamburgo, who died, and whose data were collected from the infant death investigation records.

Results:

Of the 157 deaths in that period, 35.3% were reducible through diagnosis and early treatment, 25% were reducible through partnership with other sectors, 19.2% were non-preventable, 11.5% were reducible by means of appropriate pregnancy monitoring, 5.1% were reducible through appropriate delivery care, and 3.8% were ill defined. The major cause of death related to heart disease (13.4%), which was significantly associated with the variables ‘age at death’, ‘gestational age’ and ‘birth weight’. Regarding access to healthcare services, 60.9% of the pregnant women had a maximum of six prenatal visits.

Conclusion:

It is mandatory to enhance prenatal care and newborn care at hospitals and basic healthcare units to prevent infant mortality.