Perinatal mortality and morbidity in Slovak Republic in the years 2007-2015

Objective Comparison of perinatal mortality in Slovak Republic in three periods during the years 2007-2015. Design Epidemiological perinatal nation-wide. Settings 1st Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University and University Hospital, Bratislava, Slovak Republic. Methods The analysis of prospectively collected selected perinatal data in the years 2007-2015. Results In the year 2007 there were 63 obstetrics units, 51,146 deliveries and that of live births 51,650 in Slovak Republic. The number of obstetrics units decreased to 54 in the years 2015, but total number of deliveries increased to 55,139 and that of live births increased to 55,643. Preterm deliveries rate increased from 7.3% in the year 2007 to 8.5% in the year 2010 and decreased to 7.5% in the year 2015. Perinatal mortality rate decreased from 6.2 in the year 2007 to 4.8 in the year 2013, and increased again in the years 2014 and 2015 to 5.3 and 5.6 per 1,000 still- and live-births respectively. During the years 2007-2015 stillbirth participate at perinatal mortality with 64%, low birth weight with 64% and severe congenital anomalies with 20%. Transport in utero to perinatological centres in the years 2007-2015 has increased from 57% to 66% for infants 1000-1499 g and from 75% to 79% for infants below 1000 g. Conclusion In the year 2013 perinatology in Slovak Republic reached the best result in perinatal mortality rate 4.8 (0.48%), but in next two years has increased over 5. Prenatal detection of severe congenital abnormalities, transport in utero very low birth weight infants, centralisation of high-risk pregnancies and obstetric and neonatal intensive care units equipment need still to be improved in Slovak Republic. Keywords perinatal mortality, preterm delivery, multiple pregnancy, neonatal intensive care unit, low birth weight, very low birth weight.