Abstract

Context: World over, four million newborn babies die in the first month of life out of which India contributes to about 1.2 million deaths every year. India thus accounts for a quarter of global neonatal deaths and thus faces the biggest newborn health challenge of any country in the world.
Aims: The study was under taken with the objective to determine the morbidity and mortality pattern of among the neonates admitted to a NICU.
Settings and design: The study was conducted at Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences Srinagar (Kashmir). This NICU is a level-III NICU center is a tertiary care center, where most of the babies referred are high-risk babies.
Methods and material: For the objective a descriptive case series, hospital based prospective study was conducted at NICU of SKIMS Srinagar w.e.f. 1st Jan-31st Dec 2013 by following neonates from admission to discharge, LAMA or death collecting the data by using a predesigned standardized proforma.
Statistical analysis used: The data collected was analyzed by SPSS version 20 and the frequency and percentages of various parameters of morbidity and mortality were calculated.
Results: 1017 neonates were admitted in the NICU during the year 2013. Neonatal Jaundice (NNJ) (26.7%) was the most common cause of admission to NICU followed by Septicemia (19.1%) and Prematurity (12.5%) whereas Prematurity (24.2%) was the most common cause of death followed by Septicemia (18.2%), Birth Asphyxia (11.1%) and Meconium Aspiration Syndrome (10.1%).
Conclusions: The Neonatal Jaundice (NNJ) was the commonest causes of admission and Prematurity was the most common cause of death and Meconium Aspiration Syndrome was the most common cause of case fatality in NICU in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in Jammu and Kashmir.

Keywords: NICU; Morbidity; Mortality; Fatality; Admission