Infant Mortality and Its Underlying Causes of Death in Araraquara-SP, Brazil from 2007 to 2015

Aim: This study was done to characterize the evolution of infant mortality rate in the period 2007-2015 in Araraquara- SP, Brazil and to identify the main causes of death.

Design: It was an exploratory cross-sectional epidemiological study.

Subjects: Data sources for live births and deaths of infants under 1 year were, respectively, SINASC and SIM. The study period was divided into three-years-period, aiming to identify statistically significant differences between two periods. Death´s causes were codified according to ICD-10.

Results: The infant mortality rate, between 2007 and 2015, was 11.7 per 1,000 live births, and was stable with no statistically significant differences between the three-year-period. Perinatal causes were the most common in the neonatal period (73.2%), followed by congenital malformations (21.4%). In the postneonatal period, congenital malformations accounted for 30.2% of deaths, followed by influenza and pneumonia, with 11.3%.

Conclusions: The infant mortality rates were stable from 2007 to 2015. The postneonatal mortality was the least of the components, so that the neonatal period was responsible for 80.9% of the deaths. The perinatal causes accounted for 60.6% of the deaths among children of less than one year of age, and were the main cause of mortality.