Cause-specific infant mortality rate in Qatif area, eastern province, Saudi Arabia.

Cause-specific infant mortality rate data are useful in the planning and evaluation of strategies designed to address high infant mortality rate (IMR). Cause-specific infant mortality rate was determined for the Qatif area using information obtained from the birth and death registers and birth and death certificates. The IMR for the Qatif area for 1992 was 21.06/1000 live births. Forty-five (70.3%) of the deaths occurred in the neonatal period and about 75% of the deaths were preventable. Major causes of IMR were premature delivery in 25 (39.1%), infections in 16 (25%), birth defects in 12 (18.8%), sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in four (6.3%) and difficult delivery in three (4.7%) cases. Prevention of premature delivery through improved prenatal care coverage and improvements in neonatal intensive care facilities will reduce deaths due to prematurity and difficult delivery. The impact of birth defects can be lessened with improvement in epidemiological data that may result in prevention of some of the birth defects. Better facilities for managing infants with cardiovascular anomalies will decrease infant death due to CVS defects.