Dangers of death on the first day of life by the minute

J Perinatol. 2015 Nov;35(11):958-64. doi: 10.1038/jp.2015.107. Epub 2015 Sep 3.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate mortality on the first day of life by minute and hour, and examine changes in major causes of death in the past three decades.

Study design: We evaluated mortality on the first day of life by the hour (0, 1, …, 23 h), and in the first hour by 5-min block (0-4, 5-9, …, 55-59 min) using data on cause of death for 15,690 infants in Canada from 1981 to 2012.

Results: Infant mortality on the first day declined from 2.60 per 1000 in the 1980s to 1.26 in the 2000s. The decline was greater at 6-23 h than at 0-5 h of life, and among infants with congenital anomalies compared with prematurity and birth asphyxia.

Conclusion: Infant mortality is highest on the first day of life. More focus on prematurity and birth asphyxia in the first 5 h of life is needed to improve infant mortality.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Asphyxia Neonatorum / mortality*
  • Cause of Death*
  • Cohort Studies
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Incidence
  • Infant
  • Infant Mortality / trends*
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Infant, Premature*
  • Infant, Very Low Birth Weight
  • Male
  • Monitoring, Physiologic / methods*
  • Quebec / epidemiology
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Risk Assessment
  • Time Factors