Clusters of cause specific neonatal mortality and its association with per capita gross domestic product: A structured spatial analytical approach.

Background: Infant mortality rate is a measure of population health and neonatal mortality account for great proportion of these deaths. Underdevelopment might be associated to higher neonatal mortality risk due to assistant related factors. Spatial and temporal distribution of mortality help identifying and developing strategies for interventions.

Skin-to-skin contact and/or oral 25% dextrose for procedural pain relief for term newborn infants.

Objective: The goal was to compare the efficacy of oral 25% dextrose treatment and/or skin-to-skin contact for analgesia in term newborns during intramuscular injection of a hepatitis B vaccine.

Methods: A prospective, randomized, partially blinded, clinical trial was performed with 640 healthy term newborns. Infants at 12 to 72 hours of life were assigned randomly to receive an intramuscular injection of hepatitis B vaccine in the right thigh according to 4 analgesia groups, that is, no analgesia (routine); oral 25% dextrose treatment, given 2 minutes before the injection; skin-to-skin contact, initiated 2 minutes before the injection and persisting throughout the procedure; and a combination of the oral dextrose treatment and skin-to-skin contact strategies.