Perinatal mortality in Ondokuz Mayıs University Faculty of Medicine in 2003 was prospectively analyzed with the collaboration of the Neonatology, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pathology Departments. In 2003, 1106 babies were born dead or alive with a birth weight of more than 500 grams and a gestational age over 22 weeks. Of these, 97 babies died in the perinatal period. Perinatal mortality rate was 87.7/1000, stillbirth rate 49.7/1000 and early neonatal mortality rate 39.9/1000. The two leading causes of death according to a modified Wigglesworth classification were stillbirths and prematurity and its complications. Lethal congenital malformations and terminations and "other" ranked. The high perinatal mortality rate in our university hospital was attributed to the fact that our hospital is the only one in the Middle Black Sea Region that provides care to high-risk pregnant women and their babies (the only Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in the region). We invite the Ministry of Health to put forward programs with Ondokuz Mayıs University Faculty of Medicine to reduce the perinatal mortality rate in the region.

Keywords: perinatal mortalite, Orta Karadeniz Bölgesi, Samsun, perinatal mortality, Middle Black Sea region