Morbidity and mortality of newborns with birth weight less than 1 500 g: Experience from a local hospital part of the Vermont Oxford Network

Abstract

Background: The implementation of neonatal intensive care networks allows the implementation of “benchmarking” methodologies, designed to perform comparative analysis of relevant outcomes, in order to improve the quality of medical care in neonatal intensive care. Hospital Sótero del Río (HSR) joined the Vermont Oxford Network (VON) in 2004. 

Objective: presentation of results related to neonatal morbidity and mortality during the first year of participation in the network. 

Method: population evaluated includes newborns with birth weight between 501 and 1500 g. Relevant information on morbidity and mortality is prospectively registered, following methodologies and definitions standardized for all VON participant units. 

Results: 124 out of 38,895 admissions in VON belong to HSR. Survival was lower in HSR compared to VON (73% vs 85%). The observed rate of 02 dependence at 36 weeks (51%) and severe intraventricular hemorrhage (16%) in HSR are higher than the 75 percentile for VON. Rates of severe ROP (5%) and necrotizing enterocolitis (4%) are within the interquartile range values (p25-p75), whereas the rate of nosocomial infection (2%) falls below the 25 percentile. 

Conclusions: Results outstand the advantages of being part of an international network that offers high quality statistical analysis of relevant information.