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Causes of death in a pediatric tertiary care hospital in Ecuador

Abstract:

Objective: To describe the causes and characteristics of the patients who died in a pediatric tertiary care hospital in 2016. Material and methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study. The universe of study were 183 deceased children. Data sources: medical records. Absolute, relative frequencies, measures of central tendency and dispersion were estimated. The hospital mortality rate was calculated per 1,000 discharges. Results: 58.4% of the deaths corresponded to children under one year of age; the most affected were children between 0 and 28 days. Non-infectious causes were the main with 68.3%. Congenital malformations, pneumonia and cancer accounted for 65.1% of total deaths. Conclusions: Mortality was higher in children under one year. Congenital malformations, pneumonia and cancer are the leading causes of death.