Abstract
To compare the pattern of cause of death of infant mortality rates by urban/rural areas as well as to generate knowledge for potential strategies to decrease this mortality, we carried out a study by analyzing the infant mortality data from the Shenyang Women and Children Health Care Centre. From 1997 to 2014, 970,583 live births and 6510 infant deaths were registered. Infant mortality rates, percent change, and annual percent change (APC) were calculated. The infant mortality significantly decreased by 5.92%, 7.41%, and 3.92% per year in overall, urban, and rural areas, respectively. Among the categories of causes of infant death, congenital anomalies (APC = −7.87%), asphyxia-related conditions (APC = −9.43), immaturity-related conditions (APC = −3.44%), diseases of the nervous system and sense organs (APC = −6.01%), and diseases of the respiratory system (APC = −6.29%) decreased significantly in the observational periods. Additionally, among selective causes of infant death, pneumonia, congenital heart disease, neural tube defects, preterm birth and low birth weight, birth asphyxia, and intracranial hemorrhage of the newborn significantly decreased by 5.45%, 5.45%, 16.47%, 2.18%, 10.95%, and 10.33% per year, respectively. In conclusion, infant mortality has been continuously decreased in Shenyang from 1997 to 2014, although further efforts are still needed to decrease the infant mortality in rural areas.
Highlights
The report “A Promise Renewed: 2015 Progress Report” from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) noted that the number of children who die from mostly preventable causes before they turn five years old stands at 5.9 million a year, decreased from 12.7 million 25 years ago[1]
The decreasing trends of overall infant mortality and categories of causes of infant death were more pronounced in urban areas than rural areas
The similar significant decreasing trends of urban and rural areas were observed among several causes of infant death
Summary
The report “A Promise Renewed: 2015 Progress Report” from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) noted that the number of children who die from mostly preventable causes before they turn five years old stands at 5.9 million a year, decreased from 12.7 million 25 years ago[1]. Infant mortality rate is an important indicator for the effectiveness of public health issues including maternal and child health care services, as well as for comparing countries with respect to welfare[2]. Compared with developed countries (e.g. 2 and 5 per live births in Sweden and Canada in 2013, respectively), the infant mortality of China has not yet decreased to an acceptable level. The average infant mortality rate was 15.3 per 1,000 live births in 2007 in China, the infant mortality rates in urban areas were much lower than those in rural areas (7.7 versus 18.6 per 1,000 live births). The purpose of this study was to compare the pattern of cause of death of infant mortality rates by urban/rural areas as well as to generate knowledge for potential strategies to reduce infant deaths in the future on the basis of data collected through a relatively long observational period (1997–2014)
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