Low birth weight to emerges big killer

Along With Premature Births, It Caused 55% Of Neonatal Deaths In 2015: Lancet

Low birth weight and pre mature births, the top cause of death for new born babies in India,

has steadily risen from 12.3 per 1,000 live births in 2000 to 14.3 by 2015. With other major

causes of neonatal mortality falling significantly , low birth weight and prematurity accounted

for about 55% of all neonatal deaths in 2015 compared to around a quarter in 2000, according

to a Lancet study .

Back-of the envelope calculations show that if the rate of mortality due to babies being born

too small or too early had remained the same in 2015 as in 2000, about half a lakh fewer

babies would have died that year.

Poor nutrition of mothers, under-age motherhood and inadequate pre-natal care are the major

causes for underweight or premature babies. Three causes -prematurity or low birth weight,

neonatal infections, and birth asphyxia or trauma -accounted for more than three-quarters of

neonatal deaths in 2000. Of these, neo natal infections and birth asphyxia or trauma fell

dramatically over the next 15 years in both rural and urban areas, rich and poor states.

However, prematurity or low birth weight mortality rates rose in rural areas from 13·2 per

1,000 live births in 2000 to 17 in 2015 and in poorer states from 11·3 to 17·8. They fell in

urban areas and richer states, but that wasn't enough to offset the damage.

In a clear indication of the effect of maternal malnutrition, the study found that most of the

increase in prematurity or low birth weight deaths was happening in babies born at full term

but with low birth weight and not in premature babies.

The study was based on data gathered as a part of the ongoing Million Death Study (MDS),

in which the Registrar General of India's surveyors do verbal autopsies of the deaths that

occurred after the previous census round. A verbal autopsy involves surveyors asking

detailed questions on the circumstances in which a death took place. Trained physicians then

study these autopsies and assign cause of death. The MDS captured 94,309 child deaths

(52,252 neonatal deaths and 42,057 deaths at ages 159 months) from 2001to 2013.

The study observed marked variation in the trends in mortality rates from prematurity or low

Birth weight, with increases in the rates in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar,

Punjab, and Haryana, but declines in Odisha, Assam and most of the richer states. The study

revealed that annual mortality rate declines were faster in under-five children than among

newborns. Child mortality rates in India have substantially reduced since 2000, with the

steepest decline in 201015.

Source: The Times of India