INFANT MORTALITY IN CHINA RISES WITH PARITY

International Family Planning Perspectives, Jun 2004 by Lane, Trevor

In rural China, perinatal mortality is high-69 of every 1,000 infants delivered are stillborn or die within one week-and the risk of death increases with birth order.1 Of the 3,697 pregnancies registered by the civil family planning system of 20 townships during 1999, 84% ended in live birth, 8% in induced abortion, 7% in miscarriage and 2% in stillbirth. Stillbirth and death within a week of birth were more likely outcomes for second pregnancies than for first pregnancies (relative risks, 3.8 and 2.5, respectively). As a consequence, the overall perinatal mortality rate for parity two was about three times that for parity one (121 vs. 44 per 1,000 births). Girls more commonly died in the first week of birth than did boys (69 vs. 29 per 1,000 live births), mainly because of the higher risk of mortality among second-born girls than among first-born girls (relative risk, 5.9), the researchers note. Commenting that the perinatal mortality rate in rural China is higher than that documented for urban areas, as well as for other developing countries, the authors conclude that the increased mortality among second-born girls is probably "a result of both the family planning policy and the preference for sons" in China.

1. Wu Z et al., Perinatal mortality in rural China: retrospective cohort study, British Medical Journal, 2003,327(7427): 1319-1322.