Introduction
The PICOT question for the research: In pregnant women below the age of 30 years, how does the provision of safer sleeping environment compare to the administration of prenatal medication prevent the rate of postneonatal deaths? From the PICOT question formulated, a search term "postneonatal deaths" will be used to review the information on the topic.
Postneonatal deaths
Infant mortality includes both neonatal and post-neonatal deaths. While neonatal deaths occur in children within 28 days after birth, postneonatal deaths occur in infants between 28 days and 11 months after birth. There are various causes and conditions which lead to post-neonatal mortality. The leading causes and conditions of child mortality exhibit substantial differences in neonatal and post-neonatal deaths (Gladstone et al., 2011). Over the last few years, the rate of child mortality in infants born between 28 days and eleven months has been recorded to be 2.24 deaths in every 1000 live births. In most cases, the leading cause of post-neonatal mortality is associated with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, unintentional injuries and congenital malformations. It is imperative to note that post-neonatal mortality varies with ethnicity as well as race. The highest rate of post-neonatal mortality has been reported among the black community (Gladstone et al., 2011).
Apart from sudden infant death syndrome, unintentional injuries and congenital malformation, post-neonatal mortality is caused by disorders associated with low birth weight and short gestation, infants affected by maternal pregnancy complications, respiratory distress of newborn and diseases of the circulatory system.
Some interventions have shown substantial outcome in mitigating infant mortality, both neonatal and post-neonatal mortality. They include; zinc therapy for persistent diarrhea, insecticide-treated bed nets, case management for pneumonia, antenatal corticosteroids for fetal lung maturation, anti-malaria treatment and administration of vitamin A therapy for measles.
References
Gladstone, M., White, S., Kafulafula, G., Neilson, J. P., & van den Broek, N. (2011). Post-neonatal Mortality. Morbidity, and Developmental Outcome after.
