Abstract

ORTIZ IBANEZ, Luis et al. Infant mortality in a university pediatric hospital in Colombia, 2000 - 2010. Salud, Barranquilla [online]. 2015, vol.31, n.1, pp.10-17. ISSN 0120-5552.

Objetive: To estimate in-hospital mortality in order to provide information for planning health care in pediatrics. Method: The mortality records of969 children whose death at Children's Hospital between years 2000 to 2010 in Cartagena Colombia, were analyzed. Results: The mean in-hospital mortality rate was 8.5 deaths for the period per thousand discharges (Min-Max = 2.6 -17.3). Of the 969 deaths 54.5 % was in men. Two out of three deaths were in children under one year and less than 1 % of deaths occurred in people over 15 years. Between 2000 and 2004 the leading cause of death in both genders was diarrheal disease (25 %) followed by pneumonia (17.2 %) and sepsis (12.3 %) and 71.3 % of the causes were associated infections. The 26.2 % of all deaths occurred between 2005 and 2010 and their causes are associated with chronic diseases. The hospital mortality rate was reduced 6.7 times and in 2010 there were 10 times fewer deaths than 2000. Conclusions: The Children's Hospital Napoleon Franco Pareja has impacted essentially Cartagena infant mortality (from 23 % to 7 % in the period).

Keywords : in-hospital mortality; pediatrics; infant mortality; Colombia.

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