Perinatal mortality

Not to be confused with embryo loss, abortion, or infant mortality.
Perinatal mortality
Other namesPerinatal death
Infant, neonatal, and postneonatal mortality rates: United States, 1940–2005
SpecialtyPublic health

Perinatal mortality (PNM) is the death of a fetus or neonate and is the basis to calculate the perinatal mortality rate.[1] Perinatal means "relating to the period starting a few weeks before birth and including the birth and a few weeks after birth."[2]

Variations in the precise definition of the perinatal mortality exist, specifically concerning the issue of inclusion or exclusion of early fetal and late neonatal fatalities. The World Health Organization defines perinatal mortality as the "number of stillbirths and deaths in the first week of life per 1,000 total births, the perinatal period commences at 22 completed weeks (154 days) of gestation,[3] and ends seven completed days after birth",[4] but other definitions have been used.[5]

The UK figure is about 8 per 1,000 and varies markedly by social class with the highest rates seen in Asian women. Globally, an estimated 2.6 million neonates died in 2013 before the first month of age down from 4.5 million in 1990.[6]

  1. ^ "Perinatal mortality rate (PMR) — MEASURE Evaluation". www.cpc.unc.edu. 9 September 2020.
  2. ^ Concise medical dictionary. Jonathan Law, E. A. Martin (10th ed.). Oxford. 2020. ISBN 978-0-19-187376-8. OCLC 1142355883.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. ^ "UpToDate".
  4. ^ "WHO – Maternal and perinatal health". www.who.int. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013.
  5. ^ Richardus JH, Graafmans WC, Verloove-Vanhorick SP, Mackenbach JP (January 1998). "The perinatal mortality rate as an indicator of quality of care in international comparisons". Medical Care. 36 (1): 54–66. doi:10.1097/00005650-199801000-00007. PMID 9431331.
  6. ^ "Global, regional, and national age-sex specific all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 240 causes of death, 1990–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013". Lancet. 385 (9963): 117–71. 17 December 2014. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61682-2. PMC 4340604. PMID 25530442.