relationship of infant mortality with prenatal and natal service utility and demographic characteristics: case-control study

Objective: This study was carried out to determine the relationship of infant mortality with socio-demographical characteristics and prenatal-natal service utility.Materials and Methods: The case control study was carried out in Konya province in 2007. The infants of whom provincial directorate of health was informed as dead during a year were the case group; the infants who were selected via one-to-one correspondence method, born alive and still live were the control group. Ad-dresses of 541 infants were visited to gain the consent of mothers and information was collected via survey. Be-sides, infant and child monitoring forms, household de-termination form of the family, pregnant and puerperal monitoring forms were evaluated. Information about 444 cases and controls in total was gathered except for the ones that could not be reached due to various reasons.Results: Of 444 infants who were dead in a year in Konya province and whose families and records could be reached 57.0% were male, 43.0% female, and 64.4% were dead early neonatal, 7.9% late neonatal and 27.7% post neonatal. Of the mothers of the dead infants 4.1% were at age 18 and under, 14.6% at age 35 and over. In-fant mortality was correlated with low birth weight, not paying home visits during pregnancy, 4 and more preg-nancies, kin marriage and pregnancy gap being less than 2 years. No relationship between other demograph-ical and fertility characteristics and infant death was de-termined.Result: It was found out that to develop the number and quality of monitoring in pregnancy, and to hinder con-sanguineous marriage and extreme fertility may de-crease infant mortality.