Perinatal Mortality Rate in Ireland

Abstract

The recently published data for 2023 reports that the perinatal mortality (PNM) rate for 2023 was 4.3 per 1000 births. This marks the lowest rate ever recorded for Ireland. There was a total of 235 perinatal deaths, consisting of 158 stillbirths (2.89 per 1000 births) and 77 early neonatal deaths (1.41 per 1000 births). The adjusted PNM rate, which excludes major congenital malformations, was 3 per 1000 births. The PNM rate has been decreasing over time. In 2014, it was 6.8 per 1000 births, and in 2018 it was 5.2 per 1000 births.

The audit goes into some detail about the interpretation of individual hospital rates. In particular, the rates are affected by the transfer of high-risk pregnancies and ill newborn infants from the smaller hospitals to the larger hospitals for specialist care. This operating model decreases the number of perinatal deaths at the smaller centres and increases the number at the larger centres. Examples of the impact of these referral patterns on the individual hospital rate are illustrated. The other factor that must be considered is that individual hospital rates can fluctuate from year-to-year following small changes in the number of deaths.