title: Causes of death in very preterm infants cared for in neonatal intensive care units: a population-based retrospective cohort study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  While there are good data to describe changing trends in mortality and morbidity rates for preterm populations, there is very little information on the specific causes and pattern of death in terms of age of vulnerability. It is well established that mortality increases with decreasing gestational age but there are limited data on the specific causes that account for this increased mortality. The aim of this study was to establish the common causes of hospital mortality in a regional preterm population admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data of the Neonatal Intensive Care Units' (NICUS) Data Collection of all 10 NICUs in the region. Infants <32 weeks gestation without major congenital anomalies admitted from 2007 to 2011 were included. Three authors reviewed all cases to agree upon the immediate cause of death.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 345 (7.7%) deaths out of 4454 infants. The most common cause of death across all gestational groups was major IVH (cause-specific mortality rate [CMR] 22 per 1000 infants), followed by acute respiratory illnesses [ARI] (CMR 21 per 1000 infants) and sepsis (CMR 12 per 1000 infants). The most common cause of death was different in each gestational group (22-25 weeks [ARI], 26-28 weeks [IVH] and 29-31 weeks [perinatal asphyxia]). Pregnancy induced hypertension, antenatal steroids and chorioamnionitis were all associated with changes in CMRs. Deaths due to ARI or major IVH were more likely to occur at an earlier age (median [quartiles] 1.4 [0.3-4.4] and 3.6 [1.9-6.6] days respectively) in comparison to NEC and miscellaneous causes (25.2 [15.4-37.3] and 25.8 [3.2-68.9] days respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Major IVH and ARI were the most common causes of hospital mortality in this extreme to very preterm population. Perinatal factors have a significant impact on cause-specific mortality. The varying timing of death provides insight into the prolonged vulnerability for diseases such as necrotising enterocolitis in our preterm population.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. tschindl@med.usyd.edu.au.|Department of Newborn Care, Royal Hospital for Women, Sydney, Australia. tschindl@med.usyd.edu.au.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schindler
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Koller-Smith
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.|Department of Newborn Care, Royal Hospital for Women, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Kei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lui
authors.affiliation: New South Wales Pregnancy and Newborn Services Network (PSN), Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bajuk
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.|Department of Newborn Care, Royal Hospital for Women, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Srinivas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bolisetty
mesh_terms: D002423:Cause of Death; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D007235:Infant, Premature, Diseases / Q000401:mortality*; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: Cause of death; Infant; Mortality; Preterm