title: [Realities and perspectives of perinatal care in Sicily. Experience at an outborn neonatal unit].
abstract: The Authors studied some mortality indices in the neonatal intensive and subintensive care unit of the University of Catania in order to assess the degree of efficiency of perinatal assistance. This Unit is the largest in southeastern Sicily and admits only outborn newborns from the city of Catania, the Catania province and other provinces. Comparison of the 1991-92 and the 1993-94 data revealed a marked reduction in the mortality rate, however this fall was only marginal in newborns of, or under 1,000 g. There was a marked decrease in the mortality rate from respiratory distress, especially in ventilated newborns receiving additional surfactant. Comparison of the data showed that in both study periods the mortality rate was much higher in newborns over 6 hours of life, in those presenting hematic pH values under 7.25 at admission and in those coming from other provinces. These results underline that it is essential for the political authorities to boost neonatal assistance in the delivery room and to ensure adequate transport of distressed newborns.
authors.affiliation: Cattedra di Neonatologia, Università di Catania, Italia.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Distefano
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sciacca
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marletta
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Caracciolo
authors.forename: G C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Di Stefano
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Romeo
mesh_terms: D001724:Birth Weight; D006801:Humans; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007232:Infant, Newborn, Diseases / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D019102:Infant, Very Low Birth Weight; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D007558:Italy; D018743:Perinatal Care; D012127:Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Newborn / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D014187:Transportation of Patients
vernacular_title: Realtà e prospettive dell'assistenza perinatale in Sicilia. L'esperienza di un Centro con neonati esculsivamente "outborn".