The National Perinatal Epidemiology Centre (NPEC) works with the maternity services in Ireland. The NPEC has released a report of mortality risk among very low birth weight infants in Irish maternity hospitals. The NPEC produces annual audit reports on perinatal mortality (death of a baby around the time of birth), maternal morbidity (ill health during or following birth), home births and very low birth weight babies in Ireland. At local hospital level, the NPEC provides customised feedback to individual hospitals on how they compare against the national average. The report found over the three-year period (2014-16), 298 (one in six) VLBW infants born in Ireland died before they were discharged from hospital or before they reached their first birthday. This represented a 17% higher risk of death than expected.
Read more:
- Mortality Risk Amongst Very Low Birth Weight Infants in the Republic of Ireland, 2014-2016. National Perinatal Epidemiology Centre. 2018 (PDF)
- Severe Maternal Morbity in Ireland – Annual Report 2016. National Perinatal Epidemiology Centre. August 2018 (PDF)