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Changing sex ratio of mortality in the Semai Senoi, 1969-1987.

An excess of male over female deaths is characteristic of modern national populations, whereas in some high-mortality societies female mortality exceeds that of males. Among the Semai Senoi, a Malaysian Orang Asli ("aboriginal") population, women experienced higher mortality than males in the decades before 1969. This differential occurred in all age classes older than 15 years so that the sex ratio progressively increased with age. A recent (1987) restudy of the Semai population found that sex-specific differential mortality is much reduced. A comparison of the 1969 and 1987 life tables shows a sharp shift in the sex ratios of mortality for the post-15-year-old age classes (the geometric means of age classes 15-44 were 0.768 in 1969 and 0.997 in 1987) so that male and female expectations of further life at age 15 are now nearly identical. In contrast to the best-known cases of high female mortality (mostly in South Asia), Semai sex differential mortality does not include the childhood ages. The Semai have traditionally been relatively sexually egalitarian, and sex bias in care has not occurred. Analysis of sex-specific causes of death for the pre-1969 population suggests that maternal mortality is the major cause of the excess female deaths. The reduced number of maternal deaths seems largely due to better health care, particularly the availability of hospital services. Interestingly, the reduction in female mortality has occurred simultaneously with increased fertility, and overall mortality has continued at relatively high levels (eO less than 36). Thus, rather than forming a component of a unitary demographic transition, declining sex differences in mortality can be accounted for by a specific factor, better maternal care.

Adolescent↗

A study of 8 year neonatal deaths (1982-1989) of Toa Payoh Hospital.

A study of 233 neonatal deaths out of 30910 livebirths over an 8 year period in the Toa Payoh Hospital is done. The Hospital has since ceased providing obstetric and neonatal intensive services from April 1990 due to restructuring of hospital care. The Neonatal Mortality Rates (NNMR) from 1982-1989 ranged from 6.52 to 9.55 and there was no significant fall in trend (p = 0.13). One hundred and thirteen (48.5%) neonates who died were below 1500gm (VLBW). Various causes of neonatal deaths were examined and there was a decline in respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) death rates (p less than 0.0002). Deaths due to asphyxia (p greater than 0.05) and infections (p greater than 0.05) have not declined significantly over the same period. It is also observed that less VLBW babies died over this 8 year period and the VLBW mortality rates (p less than 0.02) have declined. However, the congenital malformation mortality has also not declined significantly (p = 0.92) though early study (1972-1981) showed an increasing trend of malformation deaths among total neonatal deaths (p less than 0.02). Improvement in VLBW and RDS management has not contributed to a significant decline in NNMR. It is observed that more VLBW babies were born during this 8 year period (p = 0.01) especially so in the less than 1000 gm group (p = 0.0005) and the survival of VLBW babies has improved (45.5% to 75.8% alive) as a result of advances in neonatal intensive care. The reasons for increase in incidence of VLBW births in the past few years are not known.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Cause of Death↗

[Fertility and health in Mexico].

Fertility, health, and family planning are not independent factors, but rather involve a series of biological and social mechanisms in close interaction with one another. The impact that a high fertility rate has on health is reflected mainly in a rise in the rates of maternal and child mortality. Similarly, fertility has a greater negative effect upon the health of groups characterized by high reproductive risk, high parity, short intergenesic intervals, and unwanted pregnancies. On the other hand, family planning -and specifically the use of contraceptive methods-helps to achieve a lowering of the fertility rate and also has a positive effect on maternal-child health. This situation can be observed in the case of Mexico, where fertility rates and tendencies, as well as maternal and child mortality, have been reduced during the past decade.

Family Planning Services↗

Maternal mortality in Matlab, Bangladesh: 1976-85.

This paper reports findings from a study of maternal mortality in Matlab, Bangladesh during the 1976-85 period. The study employed a multiple-step procedure to identify maternity-related deaths to all reproductive-aged women within the study area during this period. A total of 387 maternal deaths were identified, resulting in an overall maternal mortality ratio of 5.5 per 1,000 live births. The introduction of a family planning program in half of the Matlab study area led to a moderate but significant reduction in maternal mortality rates, relative to the comparison area. This appears to have been primarily due to a reduction in the overall number of pregnancies in the treatment area, since among women who became pregnant, mortality risks remained high. The results of this study underscore the need for a broad-based service strategy that includes but is not limited solely to family planning, in order to achieve significant reductions in maternal mortality levels in settings such as rural Bangladesh.

Adolescent↗

On the decomposition of changes in expectation of life and differentials in life expectancy.

The projection of mortality rates requires inter alia close examination of the mortality experience of a population over a long period of time and will usually also involve the analysis of mortality trends by cause of death. In two of the more important recent contributions, techniques were devised for explaining change in life expectancy in terms of mortality changes in particular age groups and by different causes of death. The approaches adopted by the authors differ, and the purpose of this article is to reconcile the two and tie the results in with those obtained by earlier writers. A new method for explaining the change in a life expectancy differential in terms of the observed changes in the mortality differentials and the observed change in overall mortality level is also described.

Adolescent↗

[Mortality trends in Switzerland. 2. Infectious diseases 1876-1977].

An analysis has been made of the evolution in Switzerland of mortality due to the main infectious diseases ever since causes of death began to be registered. Mortality due to tuberculosis, diphtheria, scarlet fever, whooping cough, measles, typhoid, puerperal fever and infant gastro-enteritis started to fall long before the introduction of immunization and/or antibiotics. This decline was probably due to a great extent to various factors linked to the steady rise in the standard of living: qualitative and quantitative improvements in nutrition; better public and personal hygiene; better housing and working conditions and improvements in education. Immunization has probably been decisive in the eradication of smallpox and poliomyelitis and for the reduction in mortality from tetanus. The introduction of sulfonamides and antibiotics was associated with the beginning of the decline in mortality from non-meningococcal meningitis, otitis and appendicitis and with a more pronounced decline in mortality from pneumonia and acute rheumatic fever. Finally, mortality from syphilis started to decline a few years after the introduction of Salvarsan.

Accidents, Traffic↗

Trends in low birth weight infants and changes in Baltimore's childbearing population, 1972-77.

Linked birth and death records provided the population for a study of trends in low birth weight (LBW) rates in Baltimore between 1972 and 1977 and of the effect of changes in the characteristics of the childbearing population on these trends. The impact of shifts in the birth weight distribution on neonatal mortality rates was also investigated. Trends were analyzed for unstandardized LBW rates as well as for rates standardized on the distributions of maternal age, education, gravidity, prior pregnancy losses, and marital status.Between 1972 and 1977, the 1,500 and 2,000 gm rates rose significantly by approximately 1 infant per 1,000 live births per year among whites and 2 infants per 1,000 live births among nonwhites. Despite declines in rates for most weights, the effect of these increases was a rise in neonatal mortality rates for both races, but especially for nonwhites.The population of women delivering in Baltimore in 1977 became slightly older, slightly more educated, and of higher gravidity than in 1972, but these changes had little impact on yearly fluctuations in LBW rates. In contrast, increases in births to unmarried women and to women with at least one prior pregnancy loss were related to rising LBW rates. For both races, standardization on marital status and prior pregnancy losses diminishes the increase in the LBW rate over the study period, especially when standardization is performed simultaneously for both variables. These findings hold within maternal age, education, and gravidity groups. However, the LBW rates for nonwhite teenage mothers and for nonwhite women with 12 years of less education increased significantly over the study period, regardless of standardization.

Abortion, Induced↗

Mortality in a migrating Mennonite church congregation.

Preston's two-census method of demographic estimation is applied to three pairs of reconstructed censuses from the records of a migrating Mennonite church congregation covering the period 1780-1890. The three pairs of censuses correspond to three periods (1780-1790, 1850-1860, and 1880-1890) and to stays in three settings (Prussia, Russia, and Kansas, respectively). The Mennonites' stay in Prussia was a period of hardship. In Russia they expanded their economic base and developed new farming methods, dramatically increasing their productivity. The Mennonites took these skills to Kansas, where they continued to be successful. The increase in life expectancy at age 5 corroborates this picture. The Prussian period exhibits the shortest life expectancy for both sexes. After the move to Russia, life expectancy increased for both sexes and continued to increase with the move to Kansas. The model also provides limited evidence for fertility depression following the move to Kansas.

Adolescent↗

Neonatal disease profile in Larkana before and after establishment of neonatal ward.

This is a study of 2050 neonatal admissions excluding neonatal tetanus in children hospital CMC Larkana from December, 1988 to July, 1993. Six hundred and eighty-nine cases were admitted in General Paediatrics Ward before establishment of neonatal unit and 1361 cases were admitted in neonatal ward. The aime of study was to compare the disease pattern and mortality rates before and after establishment of a neonatal unit in the same hospital. Number of admissions significantly increased after the establishment of neonatal unit but there was no decline in the mortality. Changes in disease pattern were observed particularly for Gastroenteritis and miscellaneous (undetermined) category. Seventy percent of admissions were males in Ist week of their life. Commonest cause of admission and mortality was birth anoxia.

Asphyxia Neonatorum↗

Using community health workers for malaria control: experience in Zaire.

The potential for using community health workers (CHW) for administering timely and effective treatment for presumptive malaria attacks was evaluated in the Katana health zone in Zaire. In each of the 12 villages of an intervention area (area A) with 13000 inhabitants, a CHW was trained in the use of a simple fever management algorithm. The CHWs performed their services under the supervision of the nurse in charge of the area's health centre (HC). Malaria morbidity and mortality trends were monitored during 2 years in area A and in an ecologically comparable control area (area B), where malaria treatment continued to be available at the HC only. Health care behaviour changed dramatically in the intervention area, and by the end of the observation period 65% of malaria episodes were treated at the community level. Malaria morbidity declined 50% in area A but remained stable in the control area. Parasitological indices showed similar trends. Malaria-specific mortality rates remained, however, at essentially the same levels in both areas. The non-comprehensiveness of the CHWs' care and their ambiguous position in the health care system created problems that compromise the sustainability of the intervention.

Adolescent↗

[Incidence and regression of sudden infant death in Austria. Is the change in the SIDS incidence real or virtual?].

After the rise in incidence of the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in the 1980s to a peak of 1.7/1000 live births in Austria in 1988, the SIDS rate more than halved to 0.79/1000 live births in 1994. This trend can be regarded as typical of the epidemiology of SIDS in most Western countries. It is commonly interpreted as a result of preventive measures. However, the decline in incidence of SIDS started several years before systematic preventive activities were undertaken in Austria. Graphical presentation shows that the dynamics of SIDS does not affect the almost linear decline in postneonatal mortality over the past 25 years, as would be expected from the fact that SIDS is the most important cause of death in the postneonatal period. A comparative analysis of trends of postneonatal SIDS and non-SIDS mortality reveals that in Austria the increase of SIDS was accompanied by a rapid fall of non-SIDS mortality, whereas, on the contrary, the decline of SIDS went along with relative increase of non-SIDS mortality. Changing awareness of coroners and forensic pathologists of SIDS, with the resultant changes in frequency and performance of postmortem examinations, and changes in coding practices of causes of death should be taken into consideration as determinants of SIDS incidence before interpreting trends as resulting from public health interventions.

Austria↗