An analytic study of the trends in perinatal and neonatal mortality rates in the State of Qatar over a 30-year period (1977 to 2007): a comparative study with regional and developed countries.

Objective: This study was designed to analyze the trends and differences in perinatal and neonatal mortality rates in the State of Qatar over a period of 30 years (1977 to 2007), to examine the causes of neonatal deaths and compare them with some regional Gulf states and developed world countries.

Study Design: This is a retrospective study conducted in the Women's Hospital, Hamad Medical Corporation, State of Qatar from 1977 to 2007.

Method: The study included all perinatal and neonatal deaths for the period 1977 to 2007, which were monitored through registers of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Women's hospital. Cause of death was determined using information from hospital records, including discharge certificates. There is a national database in the Department of Preventive Medicine that records all deaths through death certificates. The missing information for the early years was collected from this database. All causes of deaths were classified in accordance with criteria based on the International Classification of Disease tenth revision (ICD-10).

Result: There was a notable peak in neonatal (14.1), early neonatal (12.5) and perinatal (24.7) mortality rates in 1977. There was a second peak in neonatal (12.1) and late neonatal (7.5) mortality rates in 2000. Over a period of three decades (1977 to 2007), there was a significant decline in mortality rates (P<0.0001). By 2007, the neonatal mortality rate had decreased from 14.1 to 5.1; the early neonatal mortality rate had a dramatic fall from 12.5 to 2.3; and perinatal mortality came down from 24.7 to 10.3. There was no notable reduction in the late neonatal mortality rate in 2007 (2.8) compared with that in 1980 (3.0). The still-birth (8), neonatal (5), early neonatal (2.3) and perinatal (10.3) mortality rates in Qatar were very close to the rates found in developed countries, but lower than the rates in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Similar to developed countries, prematurity was the leading cause of neonatal death in Qatar (42.6%), followed by congenital anomalies (28%).

Conclusion: This study revealed that there was a sharp significant decline in neonatal and perinatal mortality rates during the study period in Qatar. The stillbirth, neonatal and perinatal mortality rates in Qatar are comparable with those in some of the developed countries and were lower than those in some of the Gulf countries. The proportion of underweight live births was found constant during the study period. Prematurity was the leading cause of neonatal death, followed by congenital anomalies.