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PMID: 7350819 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Neonatal mortality: an analysis of the recent improvement in the United States.

American journal of public health ·Vol. 70 ·No. 1 ·1980-01-00 ·Pages 15-21

Lee KS, Paneth N, Gartner LM, Pearlman MA, Gruss L

Abstract

To test the hypothesis that the recent substantial decline in the United States neonatal mortality rate (20.0/1000 in 1950 to 11.6/1000 in 1975) is associated with improvements in perinatal medical care, we examined this change in relation to the two primary components which determine neonatal mortality: birthweight distribution and birthweight-specific mortality. No improvement in the weight distribution of U.S. live births has occurred during this 25-year period, indicating that the change in neonatal mortality is attributable to improved survival for one or more birthweight groups. Decline in the mortality rate in the first 15 years was slow; three-fourths of the decline in the entire 25-year period occurred since 1965. With the exception of perinatal medical care, factors known to affect survival at a given birthweight have not changed in prevalence in the 25-year period. It is a plausible hypothesis that improved perinatal medical care is a major factor in declining neonatal mortality in the U.S.

Keywords
Americas Delivery Of Health Care Demographic Factors Developed Countries Fetal Death Health Health Services Infant Mortality Mortality North America Northern America Population Population Dynamics United States
MeSH Terms
Birth Weight Ethnicity Gestational Age Humans Infant Mortality Infant, Low Birth Weight Infant, Newborn United States
Authors & Affiliations
5 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Lee K S
Paneth N
Gartner L M
Pearlman M A
Gruss L
Other Abstracts
eng

The authors test the hypothesis that the recent substantial decline in the U.S. neonatal mortality rate is associated with improvements in perinatal medical care by examining changes in birth weight distribution and birth-weight-specific mortality between 1950 and 1975

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Article Info
Journal
American journal of public health
Abbr.
Am J Public Health
ISSN
0090-0036
DOI
10.2105/ajph.70.1.15
Published
1980-01-00
Pages
15-21
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
1254074
PMCID
PMC1619337
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.2105/ajph.70.1.15 PMC Full Text View journal details
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