The importance of preterm births for peri- and neonatal mortality in rural Malawi.

Peri- and neonatal mortality remain high in developing countries especially in sub-Saharan Africa. In the present study we quantified and identified the most important predictors of early mortality in rural Malawi. Data were obtained from a community-based cohort of 795 pregnant women and their 813 fetuses followed prospectively from mid-pregnancy. In this group peri- and neonatal mortality rates were 65.3 deaths per 1000 live births and 37.0 deaths per 1000 live births respectively. When controlled for month of birth maternal age and selected socio-economic variables preterm birth was the strongest independent predictor of both peri- and neonatal mortality (adjusted odds ratios 9.6 for perinatal and 11.0 for neonatal mortality: 95% confidence intervals: [4.4 21.0] and [3.7 32.7] respectively). Weaker risk factors for mortality included a maternal history of stillbirth and abnormal delivery. Preterm delivery was associated with primiparity and peripheral malaria parasitemia of the mother and it accounted for 65% of the population-attributable risk for perinatal and 68% of the neonatal mortality. Successful intervention programmes to reduce peri- and neonatal mortality in Malawi have to include strategies to predict and prevent prematurity. (authors)