Misunderestimating the U.S.: That shameful infant mortality rate of ours, which is so often used as a stick with which to beat us into admitting we are an inferior nation, turns out to owe much to preterm infant deaths - even more so than previously thought:
Callaghan and other researchers examined birth and death certificates for about 28,000 U.S. infants that died in 2002.
About 4,600 of those - or 17 percent - were attributed only to preterm birth. But the researchers also grouped in more than 5,700 other deaths that were attributed to preterm-related conditions including respiratory distress syndrome, brain hemorrhage and maternal complications such as premature rupture of membranes.
In that counting, nearly 9,600 births - or 34 percent - could be classified as preterm, Callaghan said.
The researchers believe that figure is conservative and likely underestimates the true picture.
Experts have generally understood the burden of preterm birth on infant deaths, but the new study sorts out the data and provides specific numbers, said Carol Hogue, an Emory University professor of maternal and child health.
Some people have already known this.
Well, no kidding. I've been trying to tell people this for years every time someone throws up that stupid infant mortality stat as "proof" that we have a bad healthcare system. Any OB/GYN doctor could have figured this one out, but of course, it's the public health officials that perpetuate this falsehood, and we know what (in general) they think of our health care system as compared to nationalized systems.
ReplyDeleteTo a lesser extent, I also believe that our perinatalogists also are more willing to pull out all the stops for an ill fetus, helping he or she to survive, but then to perhaps die as a newborn. I'm sure this is but a tiny contribution to our stats, but if they're willing to kill sick newborns in the Netherlands under the Groningen Protocol, I can't imagine they'd do too much for sick fetuses, either.