Mortality in the special care baby unit of the main children's hospital in Tripoli, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.

We investigated the prevalence of neonatal deaths in the special care baby unit (SCBU) at the main children's hospital in Tripoli and the factors associated with these deaths. We reviewed the medical records of all neonates who died in our SCBU from 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2005. A total of 1176 neonates were admitted to our SCBU (59.6% males and 40.4% females). Of these, 260 (22.1%) died: 165 males and 95 females. The reasons for admission to SCBU of the neonates who died were: prematurity (43.9%), birth asphyxia (16.7%), congenital malformations (15.9%), neonatal infections (14.6%), other reasons (4.6%) and data unavailable (4.3%). The factors associated with death were: respiratory distress (40.4%), congenital malformation (19.6%), neonatal infections (18.5%) and perinatal asphyxia (15.8%), with 5.8% attributed to other causes. The majority of deaths (63.1%) occurred during the early neonatal period. Mortality in our SCBU is high and action is needed to reduce it with emphasis on prematurity.