Table 3.
Causes of death using the classification by Patel et al 16 for admitted infants born with a gestational age between 24+0 and 26+6 weeks between 2011 and 2017, compared between different completed weeks of gestation
| Variable | Total | 24 weeks | 25 weeks | 26 weeks | P value |
| N admissions | 2121 | 480 | 625 | 1016 | |
| N died (%) | 603 (28.4) | 240 (50.0) | 180 (28.8) | 183 (18.0) | |
| Cause of death | 0.759 | ||||
| NEC | 168 (27.9) | 67 (27.9) | 51 (28.3) | 50 (27.3) | |
| RDS | 115 (19.1) | 49 (20.4) | 36 (20.0) | 30 (16.4) | |
| Severe intracranial haemorrhage | 100 (16.6) | 40 (16.7) | 31 (17.2) | 29 (15.8) | |
| Infection | 96 (15.9) | 39 (16.2) | 29 (16.1) | 28 (15.3) | |
| BPD | 65 (10.8) | 23 (9.6) | 19 (10.6) | 23 (12.6) | |
| Other | 41 (6.8) | 16 (6.7) | 10 (5.6) | 15 (8.2) | |
| Congenital malformation | 8 (1.3) | 1 (0.4) | 1 (0.6) | 6 (3.3) | |
| Immaturity | 5 (0.8) | 2 (0.8) | 2 (1.1) | 1 (0.5) | |
| Non-classifiable | 5 (0.8) | 3 (1.2) | 1 (0.6) | 1 (0.5) | |
| Death complicated or caused by: | |||||
| Infection | 210 (34.8) | 87 (36.2) | 66 (36.7) | 57 (31.0) | 0.455 |
| Respiratory problems | 180 (29.9) | 72 (30.0) | 55 (30.6) | 53 (29.0) | 0.944 |
| Central nervous system injury | 160 (26.5) | 72 (30.0) | 45 (25.0) | 43 (23.5) | 0.278 |
Results are presented as N (%).
Death complicated or caused by infection includes categories RDS with infection, BPD with infection, suspected sepsis/infection, proven sepsis/infection, NEC with sepsis and severe IVH with infection culture proven or suspected; death complicated or caused by respiratory problems includes all categories with RDS or BPD; death complicated or caused by central nervous system injury includes categories RDS with severe IVH, BPD with severe IVH, severe IVH, severe IVH with infection culture proven or suspected and from category ‘other’ cPVL, severe cerebral damage, damage due to asphyxia and congenital CMV.
BPD, bronchopulmonary dysplasia; CMV, cytomegalovirus; cPVL, cystic periventricular leukomalacia; IVH, intraventricular haemorrhage; NEC, necrotising enterocolitis; RDS, respiratory distress syndrome.