[Obstetric delivery and risk of neonatal mortality in Goiânia in 2000, Brazil].
OBJECTIVE
To determine factors associated to vaginal delivery and increased neonatal mortality in cohort studies of newborns.


METHODS
A retrospective cohort study was carried out using linkage data from the Information System on Live Births and Mortality Data System database, which included all newborns in Goiânia for the year 2000. A stratified analysis of delivery routes and maternity hospitals by risk factors of neonatal mortality was conducted through the calculation of relative risk at a 5% significance level. Statistical analyses were carried out using the Chi-square test at a 5% significance level.


RESULTS
Vaginal deliveries were more commonly seen than cesarean sections in situations where there was an increased risk of neonatal mortality. Public hospitals, where vaginal deliveries predominated, were sought by the majority of those pregnant women with an increased risk of neonatal mortality. Private hospitals, not affiliated to the public-funded Brazilian Healthcare System (SUS) and where the incidence of cesarean section was as high as 84.9%, opted for vaginal delivery in situations of greater risk, such as extreme prematurity and very-low-birth-weight infants.


CONCLUSIONS
The association between vaginal delivery and increase neonatal mortality resulted from a selection bias due to the distribution of pregnant women in the hospital network. In addition, this selection bias also resulted from an almost universal preference for cesarean sections in low-risk pregnancies as opposed to vaginal delivery for pregnancies with an increased risk of neonatal mortality.
Departamento de Pós-Graduação em Medicina, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil. hgiglio@terra.com.br
Margareth Rocha Peixoto
MR
Giglio
Joel Alves
JA
Lamounier
Otaliba Libânio de
OL
Morais Neto
D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D016304:Hospitals, Private; D006779:Hospitals, Public; D006801:Humans; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011247:Pregnancy