OBJECTIVES: to estimate neonatal and post-neonatal mortality rates (NMR and PNMR) of a sample of births in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, 1999-2001, and to compare them according to the type of maternity and access to hospital delivery and to describe deaths according to their primary cause. METHODS: the identification of infant deaths in the Mortality Information System (MIS) was accomplished through a probabilistic record linkage method. Bivariate analysis was applied with calculation of relative risks (RR) and respective 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: neonatal and post-natal mortality rates were seven and six times higher in public than in private maternities respectively. For puerperal women non-resident in the municipality and those who were denied hospital admittance in other maternity hospitals, IMR was twice as high. High IMR caused by affections of the perinatal period (PPA) even in children weighing over 1500 grams (2.3 of 1.000 born alive infants). Neonatal deaths by PPA were six times more frequent in public maternity hospitals than in private ones. CONCLUSIONS: the enormous differences in neonatal and post-neonatal mortality rates between public and private hospitals point towards the need for reduction of social inequalities and improvement of the access to healthcare as fundamental issues to be approached in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro.
Neonatal mortality; Post-Neonatal mortality; Information systems; Linkage
