Infant mortality at home in Perm Krai. Main causes and prevention

Aim. To assess the most frequent causes of infant mortality at home in Perm Krai, to give the main recommendations for its prevention.

Materials and methods. Retrospective study of 165 cases of the death of children under 1 year of age in Perm Krai over the period of 2013-2016 was carried out.

Results. Among the causes of the death of children under 1 year of age at home, the most frequently registered were the following: sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) – 47.9 %, traumas – 24.8 % and respiratory diseases – 18.8 %. In case of SIDS, the share of premature infants was 16.7 %, more than a half of infants had various signs of morphofunctional immaturity (58.8 %). Mothers’ smoking during pregnancy and after giving birth to a child occurred in 78.6 % of SIDS cases. Half of cases of death at home from traumas in children under age 1 is connected with mechanical asphyxia while sleeping, 33 % – as a result of gastric content aspiration into respiratory tract, 16.7 % – owing to nonobservance of safe conditions of sleep. Infant death in consequence of traumas more often than the other causes of death was accompanied by social risk (75.0 % of cases), regarding SIDS social risk was noted in 66.7 %, acute respiratory diseases – in 50.0 %.

Conclusions. Prevention of the main causes of death at home among infants under 1 year of age consists in a timely detection of prognostic risk and initiation of standard preventing measures.