The mortality risk prevision in neonatal intensive care unit has been proposed based on the utilization of different systems: scores, birth weight(BW), gestational age (GA), sex and others. With the aim of to evaluate the predictive value of CRIB for neonatal mortality, the score was applied to 49 newborns admitted from Dec. 1995 to Nov. 1996, in the first 12 hours of life. The inclusion criteria were BW <1500g and/or GA <31 weeks. Newborns who died within the first 12 h and those with lethal malformations were excluded. The factors evaluated were BW, GA, congenital malformations, maximal evaluated according to the The International Neonatal Network.value of base excess, maximal and minimal oxygen concentration during the initial 12 h. Each factor was

The overall mortality rate was 30.6% (£ 750g, 60%; 750-999g, 37.5%; 1000-1249g, 28.5%; 1250-1499g, 11.7%). The mean BW was 1089±294g, the mean GA was 31 1/7±3 weeks; 53.8% were male; 46.8% had Apgar score£ 3 at the first min. The mortality rate according to the CRIB score was: 0-5, 7%; 6-10 53%; 11-15 100%. The sensibility, specificity, relative risk, positive and negative predictive values according to BW; GA and CRIB score are shown below. Table

Table 1
Full size table

The authors conclude that the CRIB is a reliable score for the mortality risk prevision of VLBW newborns, specially with values higher than 10.