_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ *Corresponding author: E-mail: tukurdahiru2012@gmail.com; British Journal of Medicine & Medical Research 19(9): 1-12, 2017; Article no.BJMMR.28247 ISSN: 2231-0614, NLM ID: 101570965 SCIENCEDOMAIN international www.sciencedomain.org First-day and Early Neonatal Mortality in Nigeria: A Pooled Cross-sectional Analysis of Nigeria DHS Data Tukur Dahiru 1* 1 Department of Community Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria. Author’s contribution The sole author designed, analyzed and interpreted and prepared the manuscript. Article Information DOI: 10.9734/BJMMR/2017/28247 Editor(s): (1) Paulo Ricardo Gazzola Zen, Departament of Clinical Medicine, Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre (UFCSPA), Brazil. Reviewers: (1) Miriam Adhikari, University of Kwazulu Natal Durban, South Africa. (2) Mandira Daripa Kawakami, Federal University of São Paulo (EPM- UNIFESP), Brazil. (3) Mirta Mesquita, Ministry of Public Health and Catholic University of Asuncion, Paraguay. Complete Peer review History: http://www.sciencedomain.org/review-history/17767 Received 12 th July 2016 Accepted 21 st September 2016 Published 9 th February 2017 ABSTRACT Background: Deaths within the early neonatal period is constituting large proportions of child deaths. While risk factors associated with child death has been extensively studied, there appears scanty research on the risk factors associated with early neonatal period. Methods: We conducted analysis of pooled data sets of 2003, 2008 and 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS). Information was collected from a combined number of 79,953 women aged 15-49 years old. Multiple pregnancies were included and live birth was restricted to the most recent within the five year-period before each survey. Main outcome variables are death within the first day of life (FDM) and death within the first seven days of life (ENND). Risk of death was examined using Cox regression models. Results: Descriptive statistics indicates that both the first-day mortality rate and early neonatal death rate are highest for newborn delivered to women less than 18 years, unwanted pregnancy, very small babies (<1500 g), born outside of home and hospital, Caesarean delivery and twin babies. Multivariate analyses indicated that twin babies, babies born to via Caesarean section and during the five year period before 2013 survey are the uniform and significant risk factors for both first-day and early neonatal mortality; while receiving less than four antenatal clinic visits, being a Original Research Article