Socio-demographic, obstetric and foetal determinants of perinatal mortality

During 2011 The State of Qatar's national Perinatal Mortality Rate (PMR) was 9.55/1000 (ENMR 2.7/1000 and SBR 6.85/1000) for reporting purposes and 7.43/1000 for international comparative purposes. Qatar's current PMR is comparable to many regional countries as well as many high-income countries both from the West and East. Twenty-six (26) variables of Perinatal Mortality in 198 cases of perinatal deaths during 2011 were analysed using a sample of 14741 normal babies as a control. Univariate analysis showed that maternal nationality (ethnicity), birth weight, gestational age, maternal age, domestic help, previous abortion, previous stillbirth, previous preterm birth, previous neonatal death, lack of antenatal care, delivery room resuscitation and low Apgar score at 5 minutes were significant determinants of Perinatal Mortality (p <0.05). Fetal gender, paternal age, consanguinity, family income, housing ownership, type of housing, type of family, maternal education, maternal occupation, father education, father occupation, parity, duration of rupture of membranes and BMI at delivery did not appear as significant determinants of Perinatal Mortality. On multivariate analysis, only seven variables; Maternal Nationality (Ethnicity) Maternal education, Previous stillbirth, Gestational age, Birth weight, Delivery room resuscitation and APGAR score at 5 minutes were significant determinants of Perinatal Mortality. Further research into the incidence, causality and determinants of perinatal mortality, both on regional and international basis, is urgently required to generate data for guiding health policy and programs.