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Effect of Puerperal Infections on Early Neonatal Mortality: A Secondary Analysis of Six Demographic and Health Surveys
Authors: Bellizzi, Saverio; Bassat, Quique; Ali, Mohamed M.; Sobel, Howard L.; and Temmerman, Marleen
Source: PLOS ONE , 12(1): e0170856; doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0170856
Topic(s): Neonatal mortality
Country: Asia
  Multiple Asian Countries
More than one region
  Multiple Regions
Latin American/Caribbean
  Multiple L.A./Caribbean Countries
Asia
  Indonesia
  Philippines
Latin American/Caribbean
  Colombia
  Peru
Asia
  Bangladesh
Latin American/Caribbean
  Honduras
Published: JAN 2017
Abstract: Background Around 1.5 million annual neonatal deaths occur in the first week of life, and infections represent one of the major causes in developing countries. Neonatal sepsis is often strictly connected to infection of the maternal genital tract during labour. Methods The association between signs suggestive of puerperal infection and early neonatal mortality (<7 days of life) was performed using Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) data of six countries, conducted between 2010 and 2013. The population attributable fraction (PAF) was generated using the estimates on early neonatal mortality of a 1990–2013 systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study. Results Signs of puerperal infection ranged from 0.7% in the Philippines to 16.4% in Honduras. Infection was associated with a 2.1 adjusted Risk Ratio (95% CI: 1.4–3.2) of early neonatal mortality. Around five percent of all deaths in the first week of life were attributable to signs suggestive of puerperal infections and varied from 13.9% (95% CI: 1.0–26.6) in Honduras to 3.6% (95% CI: 1.0–8.5) in Indonesia. Conclusions Targeted interventions should be addressed to contain the burden of puerperal infections on early neonatal mortality. Consideration of the PAF will help in the discussion of the benefits of antenatal and perinatal measures.
Web: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0170856