Barros F C, Victora C G, Vaughan J P, Teixeira A M, Ashworth A
Arch Dis Child. 1987 May;62(5):487-90. doi: 10.1136/adc.62.5.487.
The causes of 215 infant deaths occurring in a population based cohort of 5914 infants from southern Brazil were determined. Perinatal problems were responsible for 43% of these deaths and infectious diseases for 32%. In the group who died of infectious diseases, respiratory infections and diarrhoea were equally important, each accounting for 12% of all deaths. A total of 87% of the deaths occurred in the first six months of life, and this proportion remained high (77%) even after perinatal causes had been excluded. On the other hand, 53% of the infants who died were of low birth weight, as opposed to 7.9% of the survivors. This suggests that low birthweight infants need to be carefully followed by health workers at primary level, especially during the first six months. It was estimated that if the incidence of low birth weight was reduced from the present 8.8% to 5% the likely reduction in infant mortality would be 20%. This reduction would be 33% for deaths due to perinatal causes, 14% for respiratory infections, and only 5% for diarrhoea. Efforts for the prevention of infant deaths in southern Brazil are more likely to be effective if they concentrate on improving perinatal health care and environmental conditions.
确定了巴西南部一个有5914名婴儿的人群队列中发生的215例婴儿死亡原因。围产期问题导致了这些死亡病例中的43%，传染病导致32%。在死于传染病的群体中，呼吸道感染和腹泻同样重要，各占所有死亡病例的12%。总共87%的死亡发生在生命的前六个月，即使排除围产期原因后，这一比例仍很高（77%）。另一方面，死亡的婴儿中有53%出生体重低，而存活婴儿中这一比例为7.9%。这表明基层卫生工作者需要密切关注低出生体重婴儿，尤其是在头六个月。据估计，如果低出生体重的发生率从目前的8.8%降至5%，婴儿死亡率可能降低20%。围产期原因导致的死亡将降低33%，呼吸道感染导致的死亡将降低14%，腹泻导致的死亡仅降低5%。如果巴西南部预防婴儿死亡的工作集中在改善围产期保健和环境条件上，可能会更有效。
