14 DAY TRIAL // The main causes of death in newborn babies from deprived backgrounds are premature deliveries and birth defects, points out a new study conducted by Leicester researchers.
Dr Lucy Smith from the University of Leicester, leader of the team, says that the best way to solve this problem is to reduce the socioeconomic inequalities, but the problem is that currently the adopted strategy doesn't really pay off.
Today, deaths in newborn babies are more than twice as high in the poorest areas, compared to the least deprived areas, and also around 80% of these additional deaths are caused by premature birth and congenital anomalies, the researchers say.
The British Government is aware of the problem and has set up a goal of reducing the gap between very rich and very poor populations in England and Wales, by 10% by 2010.
To have a more precise idea of the phenomenon, the research team investigated all neonatal deaths in England, from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2007, and, based on the mother's residence, every death was given a deprivation score.
The results showed that during this ten-year period, 18,524 newborn babies died, mostly because of premature birth and congenital anomalies.
Between 1997 and 1999, newborns' mortality rates were more than twice as high in the poorest areas of England than they were in the least deprived areas.
The gap peaked between 2003 and 2005, before slightly decreasing in 2006-2007.
The authors said that “neonatal deaths would be 39% lower if all areas had the same neonatal mortality rates as the least deprived areas.”
Still, they noted that, given the slight decrease in neonatal deaths in deprived areas in 2006-2007, the initiatives issues by the government were somewhat successful.
They point out that these measures included increasing breast feeding rates and reducing obesity, smoking, and teenage pregnancy, but stress that even though they are beneficial, “unless interventions target specifically the risk of very premature birth and potentially lethal congenital abnormalities the effect on the deprivation gap is likely to be minor.”
The best way to succeed in reducing preterm births, according to the authors, is understanding the connection between deprivation and preterm delivery, and even though their study focused on England, they say that the phenomenon most likely exists in other developed countries, so a correct analysis would be useful worldwide.
The research was published today on bmj.com.