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

Journal of Perinatology volume 35, pages 958–964 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

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.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Fonds de recherche du Québec-Santé (Grant No. 25128) and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (MOP-130452).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut national de santé publique du Québec, Montreal, Québec, Canada

    N Auger & M Bilodeau-Bertrand

  2. University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre, Montreal, Québec, Canada

    N Auger

  3. Department of Demography, University of Montreal, Montreal, Québec, Canada

    M Bilodeau-Bertrand

  4. Sainte Justine Hospital Research Centre, Montreal, Québec, Canada

    A M Nuyt

Authors
  1. N Auger
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  2. M Bilodeau-Bertrand
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  3. A M Nuyt
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Correspondence to N Auger.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on the Journal of Perinatology website

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Auger, N., Bilodeau-Bertrand, M. & Nuyt, A. Dangers of death on the first day of life by the minute. J Perinatol 35, 958–964 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/jp.2015.107

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/jp.2015.107

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