title: Trends in cause-specific mortality at a Canadian outborn NICU.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To retrospectively review changes in the causes of death of infants dying in the NICU at Canada's largest outborn pediatric center.
  
  
  METHODS
  All inpatient deaths at the Hospital for Sick Children's NICU that occurred in the years 1997, 2002, and 2007 were retrospectively reviewed to identify the primary cause of death. Classification of the cause of death was based on a modified version of the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand's Neonatal Death Classification.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The annual mortality rate remained relatively constant (average of 7.6 deaths per 100 admissions between 1988 and 2007). A total of 156 deaths were analyzed: 53 in 1997; 50 in 2002; and 53 in 2007. The chronological age at which premature infants died increased significantly over the 3 time periods (P = .01). The proportion of deaths attributable to extreme prematurity and intraventricular hemorrhage decreased over the study period, whereas the proportion of deaths attributed to gastrointestinal causes (specifically necrotizing enterocolitis and focal intestinal perforation) increased. The proportion of infants for whom there was a decision to limit care before death was stable at between 83% and 92%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A larger proportion of outborn premature infants admitted to the Hospital for Sick Children's NICU seem to be surviving the early problems of prematurity only to succumb to late complications.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, IWK Health Centre, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. simpsonc@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Charles David Andrew
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Simpson
authors.forename: Xiang Y
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hellmann
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tomlinson
mesh_terms: D002423:Cause of Death / Q000639:trends; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality / Q000639:trends; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009864:Ontario / Q000453:epidemiology; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D015996:Survival Rate / Q000639:trends