Perinatal mortality in a first generation immigrant population and its relation to unemployment in The Netherlands.

STUDY OBJECTIVE

To consider the association between biological and social risk factors and perinatal mortality in an ethnically mixed population in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

DESIGN

This was a matched case-control study. Cases included all registered stillborn infants and all registered liveborn infants who died within seven days of birth. Controls were selected from infants remaining alive. Each case was matched with two controls by date of registration.

SETTING

Civil registry of births and deaths, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1975-80.

PATIENTS

All 666 babies who died in the perinatal period and 1332 controls selected from the liveborn survivors.

OUTCOME

Perinatal mortality.

MAIN RESULTS

Perinatal mortality was independently associated with the father's and mother's employment status, maternal age, parity, and infant sex, but not with the father's or mother's country of birth.

CONCLUSIONS

Employment status and not country of birth should be the main focus in studies of perinatal mortality in this population of mixed ethnicity. Future studies on selected behavioural, socio-economic, and cultural factors are needed to provide a better understanding of the causes of increased perinatal mortality among families in which the parents are unemployed.