According to UPI, the primary cause of infant death in a neonatal intensive care unit is withdrawing support and withholding lifesaving measures, say U.S. researchers. Dr. Julie Weiner of Children’s Mercy Hospital and colleagues examined medical records of 414 infants who died from January 1999 to December 2008 at a regional neonatal intensive care unit.
The study found that most U.S. childhood deaths occur during the neonatal period and most neonatal deaths are caused by a decision to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining measures. Of the 414 infant deaths studied, 45 percent were due to major birth defects. Seventeen percent of these infants were very preterm and 35 percent of deaths were of very preterm births without congenital birth defects or brain injury, said the study.
The study published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine found that during the 10-year period, 61.6 percent of infant deaths followed withdrawal of treatment, 20.8 percent followed withholding of treatment and 17.6 percent died despite attempted resuscitation.
Admission diagnoses for the Children’s Mercy Hospital were placed into three categories: very preterm, congenital anomaly and other including children being born after 32 weeks without congenital anomalies. Although the study found no change in frequency of withdrawal of treatment, there was a significant increase in withholding of treatment for very preterm infants.
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