Profile of newborn baby deaths in a Rio de Janeiro maternity hospital delivery room, 2010-2012

Objective: to describe the main characteristics of newborn babies who died in the delivery room of a maternity hospital in Rio de Janeiro (RJ). Method: a descriptive case series study using secondary data. We included all live births between January 1st 2010 and January 31st 2012 that died in the delivery room. Results: one hundred and six infants died in the delivery room. Most deaths occurred in newborn females (51.9%), with low birth weight (77.0%), Apgar score of less than seven at one minute (98.1%), and at five minutes (99.0%) after birth, and congenital malformations (92.5%). Conclusions: the most common features among newborn babies who died included: low birth weight, presence of asphyxia and congenital malformations.