The corrected perinatal mortality rate. A hospital-based study in Saudi Arabia

OBJECTIVE: To determine the corrected perinatal mortality rate (PMR) in a single tertiary care center, and to test the effect of unbooked pregnancies on the PMR, and amalgamate the 2 to develop a new terminology known as the extended corrected PMR.

METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of all women who delivered at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia between January 2000 and December 2010. We recorded all cases of perinatal death and calculated the PMR per annum. The PMR was corrected for extreme prematurity and congenital anomalies. The unbooked cases were reported, and the PMR was further corrected for booking status. For statistical analyses, the Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used for descriptive analysis and tests of significance.

RESULTS: The total number of births was 46,677. Seven hundred and seventy-one perinatal deaths were reported, giving a PMR of 16.5 per 1000 per year. The corrected perinatal mortality was 11.0 per 1000. The PMR decreased significantly to 6.4 per 1000 (odds ratio 2.6, 95% confidence interval 1.2-2.4, p=0.001) after correction for booking status.

CONCLUSION: The PMR in our study population is higher than those in developed countries, and when corrected for congenital anomalies and extreme prematurity, it is marginally higher. It was then considerably reduced after correction for booking status.