Background

The objective was to carry out a systematic analysis of mortality in preterm infants from different countries to answer the question about which countries have the highest and lowest survival rates for extremely premature newborns.

Methods

The systematic review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines with which articles, drawn from sources such as PubMed, ScienceDirect and Google Scholar and published between 2016 and 2021, were analyzed. Pregnancies up to 37 weeks of gestation were considered.

Results

Out of a total of 7,908 articles with the research terms, 14 articles were included. The most extreme prematurity case occurred in Korea with a female newborn of 21 weeks of gestation. The results show that high income countries fared better than low-income countries in securing low mortality rates. These countries include Japan (4.17%), Sweden (7.65%) and Finland (7.84%). In contrast, low-income countries were less able to manage the incidence of mortality among premature babies. Another notable finding was an extreme case of prematurity which occurred in Korea with a female of 21 weeks of gestation.

Conclusion

Mexico has one of the highest mortality percentages among extreme premature newborns. Possibly, the economic development of each country determines the number of resources allocated to the care of premature neonates which determines survival rates. On the other hand, each country has different therapeutic approaches, legal and ethical frameworks, and may offer proactive therapy or counseling to parents to provide palliative care.