Factors associated with neonatal deaths at Arthur Davidson Children’s Hospital Ndola Zambia

Abstract

Background: Neonatal mortality has been a public health concern for a long time and remains relatively unchanged especially in developing countries. In Zambia, 34% of all under-five deaths occur in the neonatal period. Methods: The study was designed as a comparison of cases and controls – new-born children who died before the age of 28 days and those who survived (treated) beyond 28 days respectively. Data was extracted from the 2014 and 2015 summary reports from the HMIS at Arthur Davison’s Children Hospital in Ndola Zambia. A multivariate logistic regression model was built through a back-wards step process to determine the factors associated with neonatal deaths.Results: A total of 1,534 records were extracted from the 2015 HMIS and 924 from the 2014 HMIS. Out of the total, 1,272 were treated whilst 262 died in 2015 and 726 were treated and 198 died in 2014. In 2015, infections caused less neonatal deaths than prematurity (AOR=0.29, CI 95% (0.21, 0.38)). In 2014, the sex of a child was significantly associated with surviving the first week of life; females were less likely to die than males (AOR= 0.62, CI 95 %( 0.44, 0.89)). Also in 2014, infections caused less neonatal deaths than prematurity (AOR=0.25, CI 95% (0.18, 0.36)).Conclusion and recommendations: This study revealed that factors associated with neonatal mortality include cause of death and sex. The sex of a neonate was significantly associated with surviving the first week of life. Further classification of cause of death would be beneficial in policy formulation.