title: [The perinatal mortality in a general hospital].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  the perinatal mortality (PM) represents a partial expression of a developing country and its health programs. The aim was to determine the rate of PM in a second level hospital that lacks the support of a perinatal care unit, and to help with some epidemiological elements to plan strategies to give a better care in the perinatal stage.
  
  
  METHODS
  we collected all records of deaths within the parameters of perinatal death. DATA INCLUDED: maternal age, prenatal history, cause of the perinatal death and birth control information.
  
  
  RESULTS
  out of 117 deaths, 59.8 % were in the late fetal death stage, and the rest in the first week of life. The PM rate calculated for each year from 2004 to 2007 was the following: 11.3, 12.8, 12.53, and 15.46: The birth control was good in 73 % of the cases, the most frequent cause of death was the interruption of maternal-fetal circulation in 80 % of the cases, and the early neonatal death was due to perinatal asphyxia in 20 %. The incidence of major malformations was 26.5 %.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  the undeniable increase in the PM rate forced us to encourage our staff to improve the availability of adequate material for the neonatal care.
authors.affiliation: Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Gómez Palacio, Durango, México.
authors.forename: Graciela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Castañeda-Casale
authors.forename: Horacio
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Márquez-González
authors.forename: Esperanza Rosalba
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Reyes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D006769:Hospitals, General; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008800:Mexico; D054238:Perinatal Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult