Tuesday, January 16, 2007

More finely grained result for neonatal mortality in 2000

I have been quoting a neonatal mortality rate for white women at term in 2000 of 0.9/1000. This included both singletons and multiples. CDC Wonder allows us to generate detailed statistics on neonatal deaths. Therefore, I could find out the neonatal death rate for white women at term who were carrying singletons.

According to CDC Wonder, in 2000 there were:

2,725,633 births to white women with singleton pregnancies at 37-42+ weeks

1,970 deaths within that group

for a neonatal death rate of 0.72/1000

We are coming ever closer to the true neonatal mortality rate in the appropriate comparison group. Johnson and Daviss found a neonatal mortality rate of 2.7/1000 at homebirth of pregnancies at term (including congenital anomalies, breeches and twins). The hospital neonatal mortality rate of white women with singleton pregnancies at term was 0.72. The neonatal mortality rate at homebirth in the Johnson and Daviss study was more than 3 and almost 4 times higher than at homebirth. This is despite the fact that the homebirth group had specifically excluded women with pre-existing medical conditions and pregnancy complications, and the hospital group still contains these women.

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