Morbidity and mortality characteristics of infants hospitalized in the Pediatrics Department of the largest Turkish military hospital in 2001.

A descriptive study was conducted in the pediatric inpatient unit of Gulhane Military Medical Academy, to investigate the morbidity and mortality characteristics of 532 infants hospitalized between January 1 and December 31, 2001, for treatment purposes. Of the study participants, 55.8% were boys and 44.2% were girls. The most common cause of hospitalization was neonatal hyperbilirubinemia (19.7%). The most common admission month was January (12.4%). Of 532 infants, 510 (95.9%) were discharged, whereas 22 patients died in the hospital. Twenty-one patients died in the neonatal period, and respiratory distress syndrome and neonatal sepsis were identified as the most common causes of death. Our finding of associations between male gender and low birth weight and hospital death is consistent with previous knowledge. Despite the high frequencies of pneumonia and gastroenteritis as admission diagnoses, the finding of only one pneumonia-related death and no gastroenteritis-related deaths in the study population is pleasing.