A recent study led by the University of Bristol has uncovered a concerning statistic: as much as 71.6% of child deaths up to the age of 10 can be attributed to illness as a newborn. Published in the prestigious journal JAMA Network Open, the study analyzed data from Bristol’s National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) and examined 4,829 child deaths in England between April 2019 and March 2022.
Using a statistical technique called the Poisson model, researchers compared the relative risk of death among children with and without neonatal illness. The results were staggering. Not only did the study confirm that 42% of child deaths occur within 28 days of birth, but it also revealed that perinatal events such as preterm birth, perinatal brain injury, and neonatal infections continue to affect child survival for years to come.
What’s even more concerning is that the increased risk of death applies to a wide range of causes. Children affected by perinatal events are disproportionately represented among deaths due to infections and sudden, unexplained deaths in infancy and childhood.
Digging deeper into the data, the research team found that 71.6% of child deaths were among children who showed evidence of neonatal illness. Of those deaths, 82.7% occurred before the age of one, while 33.9% occurred in the following nine years.
Professor Karen Luyt, Program Lead for the National Child Mortality Database and Professor of Neonatal Medicine, emphasized the impact of these findings noting,
“The death of a child during the perinatal period is a significant contributor to childhood mortality in developed countries. Our study highlights that children who require neonatal care continue to face a higher risk of death throughout their first decade of life, with 63% having an identifiable perinatal condition as a cause or contributor to their deaths, most commonly prematurity and congenital abnormalities. Children with neonatal illness are also at increased risk of death from various causes, including infections and sudden, unexplained deaths in infancy and childhood.”
This groundbreaking evidence underscores the urgent need for improvements in perinatal health, the prevention of preterm births, and efforts to reduce brain injury during birth. By addressing these issues, we can hope to improve the health outcomes of children in the future.
In addition to this new publication, the NCMD has released a comprehensive report titled “The Contribution of Newborn Health to Child Mortality across England,” which provides further insights into the cohort of children studied and the impact of newborn health on their survival.
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