Rural-urban differences of neonatal mortality in a poorly developed province of China

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Yang Hu¹  Weimin Fang¹  Li Wu¹  Youjie Wang¹  Bin Yi²  Hong Liu³ 

[1]Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, Hangkong Road 13, 430030, Wuhan, China

[2]Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, Hangkong Road 13, 430030, Wuhan, China

[3]Department of Neonatology, Maternal and Child Hospital of Gansu Province, Qilihe North Street 143, 730050, Lanzhou, China

[4]Department of Neonatology, Maternal and Child Hospital of Gansu Province, Qilihe North Street 143, 730050, Lanzhou, China

关键词: Live Birth;    Surveillance System;    Urban Population;    Congenital Malformation;    Neonatal Mortality Rate;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-11-477

 received in 2010-12-17, accepted in 2011-06-18,  发布年份 2011

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe influence of rural-urban disparities in children's health on neonatal death in disadvantaged areas of China is poorly understood. In this study of rural and urban populations in Gansu province, a disadvantaged province of China, we describe the characteristics and mortality of newborn infants and evaluated rural-urban differences of neonatal death.MethodsWe analyzed all neonatal deaths in the data from the Surveillance System of Child Death in Gansu Province, China from 2004 to 2009. We calculated all-cause neonatal mortality rates (NMR) and cause-specific death rates for infants born to rural or urban mothers during 2004-09. Rural-urban classifications were determined based on the residence registry system of China. Chi-square tests were used to compare differences of infant characteristics and cause-specific deaths by rural-urban maternal residence.ResultsOverall, NMR fell in both rural and urban populations during 2004-09. Average NMR for rural and urban populations was 17.8 and 7.5 per 1000 live births, respectively. For both rural and urban newborn infants, the four leading causes of death were birth asphyxia, preterm or low birth weight, congenital malformation, and pneumonia. Each cause-specific death rate was higher in rural infants than in urban infants. More rural than urban neonates died out of hospital or did not receive medical care before death.ConclusionsNeonatal mortality declined dramatically both in urban and rural groups in Gansu province during 2004-09. However, profound disparities persisted between rural and urban populations. Strategies that address inequalities of accessibility and quality of health care are necessary to improve neonatal health in rural settings in China.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Yi et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.