Source
Department of Society, Human Development and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Mass, USA. slansky@uol.com.br
Abstract
OBJECTIVES:
We examined the contribution of hospital type and quality of care to perinatal mortality rates in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
METHODS:
We used a cohort study of all births (40953) and perinatal deaths (826) in Belo Horizonte in1999. After adjusting for maternal education and birthweight, we compared mortality rates according to hospital category--defined by a hospital's relation to the national Universal Public Health System (SUS)--and quality of care. We used the Wigglesworth Classification to examine perinatal deaths.
RESULTS:
After we controlled for birthweight and maternal education, the highest perinatal death rates were observed in private and philanthropic SUS-contracted hospitals (relative to private, non-SUS-contracted hospitals). Hospital quality was also directly associated with perinatal death rates. Mortality rates were especially high for normal-birthweight babies born in private SUS-contracted hospitals. Intrapartum asphyxia was the leading cause of preventable death.
CONCLUSIONS:
In a class-segregated health care system, such as Brazil's, disparities in quality of care between SUS-contracted and non-SUS-contracted hospitals contribute to the unacceptably high rates of perinatal mortality.