Causes of Mortality in Low Birth Weight Babies at a Tertiary Care Hospital

Introduction: Decreasing the neonatal mortality has been a major concern to decrease under five mortality rate. Low birth weight (LBW) and prematurity related deaths account to significant percentage of all neonatal deaths worldwide. Causes of mortality in LBW babies are not well documented. Hence this study aims to determine the causes of neonatal mortality among the LBW babies at Patan Hospital, Nepal.   Method: It was a retrospective observational study done at the Department of Paediatrics, Patan Hospital, Lalitpur, Nepal. The study period was three years from April 2017 to March 2020. All LBW babies born within the study period were included. Perinatal audit and case records were reviewed and necessary data was extracted. Results were analyzed using appropriate tools.  Results: Total LBW babies were 3028 which was 13% of all live births. Deaths among LBW were 83 comprising mortality rate of 26.7 per thousand live births. Among all neonatal deaths 76% of the deaths were LBW babies. Sixty very LBW babies died which contributed to 55% of total neonatal deaths.  Mean birth weight was 1185 grams, median 1045 with standard deviation 571 with range of 500 to 2484 grams. Respiratory distress syndrome (35%), sepsis (29%), congenital anomalies (23%) and birth asphyxia (12%) were the most common causes of mortality. Conclusions: Respiratory distress syndrome and sepsis were the most common causes of neonatal mortality among LBW babies. Improved neonatal care with special focus to very and extremely LBW babies might help reduce neonatal mortality.