Evaluation of Clinical Risk Index for Babies to Predict Mortality and Morbidity in Neonates Admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Background: Premature birth, low birth weight, and congenital malformations are the main causes of neonatal mortality. The current study aimed at evaluating the predictive index of mortality and short-term morbidity of premature neonates in a hospital in karaj, Iran Methods: The present cross sectional study was conducted on 145 neonates admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit of (NICU) at Bahonar Hospital in karaj, Iran from 2014 to 2017. Neonates were selected by available sampling method and data were collected using their records; the mortality rate was calculated using the CRIB (clinical risk index for babies) checklist. Data were analyzed statistically. Results: The current study results indicated the high efficiency of both CRIB and CRIBII variables in predicting neonatal mortality (P = 0.000). The mean CRIB and CRIBII scores were respectively 9.24 and 9.04 in infants died during the study. Discussion: The CRIB score had a higher value in predicting mortality compared to that of CRIBII. CRIB score had a significant correlation with retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) (P = 0.01) and respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) (P = 0.011), but no significant relationship was found between CRIB.. and the studied complications. There was a significant correlation between CRIB and CRIBII scores >8, and neural tube defect (P = 0.000). The predictive value of the CRIB score for neural tube defect was higher than that of the CRIBII. Conclusion: The results of the current study showed that CRIB and CRIBII can be utilized to predict mortality and neural tube defect in preterm infants and CRIB score can be used to predict ROP and RDS.