Table 4.
Causes of death in newborn babies weighing <2000 g assigned to receive BCG Danish and OPV within 48 hours of admission (intervention) or delayed at least to discharge (control). Values are number (percentage) unless stated otherwise
| Early BCG-OPV (n=2714) | Control (n=2706) | BCG to control ratio | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infection | 73 (31) | 133 (49) | 0.55* | 206 (40) |
| Hyaline membrane disease | 82 (34) | 64 (23) | 1.28 | 146 (29) |
| Intraventricular haemorrhage | 22 (9) | 18 (7) | 1.22 | 40 (8) |
| Necrotising enterocolitis | 6 (3) | 4 (1) | 1.50 | 10 (2) |
| Congenital malformation | 3 (1) | 0 (0) | - | 3 (1) |
| Asphyxia | 10 (4) | 1 (0) | 9.97 | 11 (2) |
| Other | 41 (17) | 52 (19) | 0.79 | 93 (18) |
| Unknown | 1 (0) | 1 (0) | 1.00 | 2 (0) |
| Total deaths | 238 (100) | 273 (100) | 511 (100) |
OPV=oral polio vaccine.
*
For example, for infection, (73/2714)/(133/2706)=0.55 (adjusted hazard ratio 0.53, 95% confidence interval 0.40 to 0.70).
Because the percentages for the early BCG-OPV group and control group must both add to 100%, the lower percentage of deaths from infection in the early BCG-OPV group means that the percentage of non-infectious deaths in the early BCG-OPV-group must be higher overall than in the control group.