Objective: To compare perinatal health indicators in a referral hospital in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Methods: Perinatal results and indicators of single live births in Hospital das Clínicas of Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Brazil, were compared for two periods, 1995-1998 and 2003-2006. The chi-square test and Student's t test were applied with 5% significance level and 95% confidence interval. Data were obtained from the Perinatal Information System (Sistema Informático Perinatal, SIP), Latin American Center for Perinatology (Centro Latinoamericano de Perinatología, CLAP), Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Hospital das Clínicas, and from medical records.
Results: Mothers were approximately 26 years old on average. The number of prenatal appointments had an average increase of one appointment, regardless of birth weight, and there was a significant decrease in the number of caesarean deliveries in the second period. The average gestational age was 38 weeks in both periods, with a high rate of premature births (17.0 and 16.7%, respectively). The rate of newborns < 2,500 g was high in both periods (17.6 and 16.6%, respectively) with a decrease in the rate of newborns considered small for their gestational age. When congenital malformations were excluded, early neonatal mortality risk decreased from 12.4 per 1,000 live births in the first period to 8.0 per 1,000 live births in the second period, with considerable decrease for newborns with gestational age < 34 weeks.
Conclusions: Important differences were verified concerning health care assistance procedures and perinatal results, and they are compatible with the global improvement in neonatal health observed in the 2003-2006 period. However, the persistence of unfortunate neonatal incidents that can be reduced with the use of available perinatal technologies reveals the need for constant monitoring of perinatal hospital care for all groups of newborns.