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Neonatal mortality among low birth weight infants during the initial months of the academic year

Journal of Perinatology volume 28, pages 691–695 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective:

Proper management of very low weight (<1500 g) infants requires specific expertise. During July and August, pediatric interns start new rotations and advance in responsibilities by postgraduate level. We test the hypothesis that low weight births in teaching hospitals exhibit increased neonatal mortality during the initial training months.

Study Design:

Population-based cohort of 5184 very low weight and 15 232 moderately low weight infants in California from 19 regional teaching hospitals with medical training programs. Logistic regression methods controlled for both individual covariates and temporal patterns in neonatal mortality.

Result:

We found no difference in neonatal mortality between very low weight infants born in teaching hospitals during July and August and those born in other months (adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 0.98, 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.78 to 1.23). Investigation of moderately low birth weight infants also indicated no increased neonatal mortality.

Conclusion:

Infants most likely to die in the neonatal period do not appear to be at elevated risk of neonatal mortality during July and August.

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Acknowledgements

The Ruth L Kirschstein National Research Service Award (within the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality) supported the analyses described in this manuscript. We thank Ralph Catalano for statistical assistance and for valuable comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. We are also indebted to Elizabeth Anderson for data management of the Birth Cohort File.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    T A Bruckner

  2. Department of Pediatrics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

    W A Carlo & N Ambalavanan

  3. Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA

    J B Gould

Authors
  1. T A Bruckner
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  2. W A Carlo
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  3. N Ambalavanan
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  4. J B Gould
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Correspondence to T A Bruckner.

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The authors state no conflict of interest.

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Bruckner, T., Carlo, W., Ambalavanan, N. et al. Neonatal mortality among low birth weight infants during the initial months of the academic year. J Perinatol 28, 691–695 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/jp.2008.72

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