Recent improvements in perinatal mortality in Dundee

Summary

An analysis was carried out of all perinatal deaths in Dundee resident women in the two 5-year periods 1968 to 1972 and 1977 to 1981. The total uncorrected perinatal mortality rate fell from 18.5 to 11.3 per thousand births between the two study periods. Fetal deformity deaths showed the greatest decrease, due mainly to the screening programme for neural tube defects. Antepartum haemorrhage deaths fell as a result of a reduction in the antepartum and intrapartum loss of babies of over 36 weeks maturity and in neonatal deaths before 35 weeks. There were fewer ‘premature, cause unknown’ deaths due to a decrease in stillbirths of small for dates infants and in neonatal deaths of immature infants. In the ‘mature, cause unknown’ group the death rate fell due to a reduction in intrapartum and postpartum deaths, but the antepartum death rate remained unchanged.