A study of neonatal deaths in the tea gardens of Dibrugarh district of upper Assam.

A total of 2432 live births and 46 stillbirths were studied in some of the tea gardens of Dibrugarh district of upper Assam. The neonatal mortality rate was 46.5 per 1000 live births per year. Immaturity (21.2%), fever/sepsis (13.3%), breathing disorder (12.4%), neonatal tetanus (11.5%) and neonatal diarrhoea (8.8%) accounted for most of the neonatal deaths. There were 42.9% low birth weight infants and this was associated with 92.8% of total neonatal deaths and 34.3% of preterm babies were associated with 90.7% of neonatal deaths. The case fatality rate among low birth weight and preterm babies was 9% and 11% respectively. High risk of neonatal deaths had been found among the neonates in case of no maternal immunisation, delivery attended by untrained person and newborn care at home.