Contributing death factors in very low-birth-weight infants by path method analysis

Neonatal deaths account for 40% of deaths under the age of 5 years worldwide. Therefore, efforts to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goal 4 of reducing childhood mortality by two-thirds by 2015 are focused on reducing neonatal deaths in high-mortality countries. The aim of present study was to determine death factors among very low-birth-weight infants by path method analysis. In this study, medical records of 2,135 infants admitted between years 2008 and 2010 in neonatal intense care unit of Alzahra Educational-Medical centre (Tabriz, Iran) were analysed by path method using statistical software SPSS 18. Variables such as duration of hospitalisation, birth weight, gestational age have negative effect on infant mortality, and gestational blood pressure has positive direct effect on infant mortality that at whole represented 66.5% of infant mortality variance (F = 1018, P < 0.001). Gestational age termination in the positive form through birth weight, and also gestational blood pressure in negative form through hospitalisation period had indirect effect on infant mortality. The results of the study indicated that the duration of low-birth-weight infant's hospitalisation is also associated with infant's mortality (coefficient -0.7; P < 0.001). This study revealed that among the maternal factors only gestational blood pressure was in relationship with infants' mortality.