Abstract
Preterm birth is the term used to define births that occur before 37 completed weeks or 259 days of gestation. The aim of this study is to model survival probability of premature infants who were under follow-up and identify significant risk factors for mortality. Recorded hospital data were obtained for a cohort of 490 infants at Jimma University Specialized Hospital, Ethiopia. The infants have been under follow-up from January 2013 to December 2015. The non-parametric, semi-parametric and parametric survival models are used to estimate the survival time as well as examine the association between the survival time with different demographic, health and risk behavior variables. The analysis shows that most factors significantly contribute to a shorter survival time of premature infants. These factors include having prenatal Asphyxia, hyaline membrane disease, sepsis, jaundice, low gestational age, respiratory distress syndrome and initial temperature. It is therefore recommended that people ought to be cognizant on the burden of these risk factors and well informed about the prematurity.
Highlights
Premature infants come early into the world and they are born fragile, small and weighing less than full term infants
Log-rank showed that there is a significant difference of survival experience among groups of prenatal Asphyxia, hyaline membrane disease, sepsis, jaundice, Antenatal care visit, gestational age, respiratory distress syndrome and weight of infant
The results of Breslow (Generalized Wilcoxon) test show that there were significant differences among premature infants survival experience of groups prenatal Asphyxia, hyaline membrane disease, sepsis, jaundice, gestational age, respiratory distress syndrome and weight of infant except for Antenatal care visit which means there is no differences in survival experience of premature infants whose mother had Antenatal care visit and had no Antenatal care visit have at the earlier phases where the number at risk is large (Tables 1, 2)
Summary
Premature infants come early into the world and they are born fragile, small and weighing less than full term infants. Many of the babies who survive face greater risks of significant health problems and disability throughout their lives (i.e, learning disabilities, visual and hearing problems, chronic lung disease and other long-term diseases) which translate into significant increased costs to healthcare, the economy and the broader society [27]. An estimated 13 million infants are born before 37 completed weeks of gestation annually. More than 1 in 10 of the world’s babies born in 2010 were born prematurely, making an estimated 15 million preterm births, of which more than 1 million died as a result of their prematurity [13]. Mortality and prolonged hospital stay of preterm babies result in significant cost to the health sector, parents and the society [20]
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