Mortality among low birth weight neonates after hospital discharge in a resource-limited setting

This was a prospective cohort study of 220 participants aimed at determining mortality and its predictors among low birth weight neonates after discharge from Mulago National Referral Hospital, in Uganda. Captured data were entered into Epidata version 3.1. During the study period, 4 neonates were lost to follow-up, 6.5% of the 216 that completed follow-up died. Mortality was highest among those who were had discharge weight < 1200g. The predictors of mortality were discharge weight <1200g (AHR 23.47, 95% CI: 4.34-126.8), 5-minute Apgar score <7 (AHR 4.25, 95% CI: 1.31-13.8) and a diagnosis of neonatal sepsis during admission (AHR 7.93, 95% CI: 1.67-37.6). The causes of death were presumed neonatal sepsis (71.4%), suspected aspiration pneumonia (14.3%) and suspected cot death (14.3%). Majority of deaths occurred from home (54.1%).
This data was