Reparation of Causes of Death in children under 1 year registered as "Cause Bad Defined". Cordoba 2017-2018

Abstract

In the Province of Córdoba, many infant deaths are recorded as “Cause Badly Defined” according to ICD10 (R90-R99). In 2017, of 495 cases, 46 appeared with that diagnosis and in 2018 of 391, 44.

The purpose of this study was to describe the real cause of death obtained from the judicial autopsy reports in children under 1 year of age whose death was recorded in the 2017-2018 period as Cause Badly Defined in the Statistical Death Report (SDR).

A descriptive cross-sectional observational epidemiological study, was carried out in the Province of Córdoba during the years 2017 and 2018 on 46 and 44 cases respectively, of deceased children under one year of age whose basic cause of death was reported as “ Badly Defined Cause” with intervention of the Institute of Forensic Medicine (IMF). Based on the SDR provided by the Statistics Department, information on the real cause of death was sought in the Autopsy Protocols.

Of the 46 cases in 2017, 19 (41%) could not be defined, 3 (6.5%) were labeled as Death of Doubtful Etiology (DDE); the remaining 24 were diagnosed as: 11 (24%) respiratory diseases, 7 (15.2%) Sudden Infant Death (SID), 2 (4.3%) lymphocyte myocarditis and 1 (8% in total) for each of the following Diagnoses: bronchoaspiration, metabolopathy, splenomegaly and myelomeningocele. Of the 44 cases of 2018: 23 (52%) could not be defined, 8 (18%) were labeled as DDE; the remaining 13 were diagnosed as: 7 (16%) respiratory diseases, 2 (4.5%) SID, 2 (4.5%) congenital heart disease, 1 (2.27%) bronchoaspiration and 1 (2.27%) child abuse.

The results allow to conclude that, in the cases were the cause could be established, the diagnosis of Low Acute Respiratory Infections was the most frequent, these pathologies being the 3rd cause of death in the postneonatal period. The retrieval of forensic information has a very important impact on mortality statistics since, of 24 cases of death in 2017, 11 were due to respiratory pathology and 13 in 2018, 7 cases. Knowledge of basic cause of death is essential for informed decisions-making in this regard.