Risk factors and processes during prenatal life, birth, and the neonatal period are becoming increasingly important predictors of morbidity and mortality patterns in populations. In developed countries, and even in many developing regions, they have already become the most important predictors of infant mortality. Nevertheless, within demography and population forecasting, the period before birth usually remains out of focus. This book identifies risk factors and pathways leading to foetal loss, stillbirth, and neonatal death, and provides insights into their demographic consequences, thereby contributing to the improvement of infant mortality forecasting.
The risk factors and outcomes are studied within the framework of an epidemiologic and health transition. The study is divided into two parts: one on the developed world and the other on the South Indian state of Kerala, as an illustration of a region in transition that is approaching the later stages of the epidemiologic transition.
The study expands and complements demographic data sources by using data from the health sciences. As part of this, a hospital survey was carried out in 2000 in S.A.T. Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
The following adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes are discussed and studied: congenital anomalies, low birth weight, preterm birth, intrauterine growth retardation/small-for-gestational-age, and birth asphyxia. Later in the study, more remote risk factors are included, such as hypertensive disorders, diabetes, smoking, anaemia, advanced maternal age, and obstructed labour.
Maaike den Draak (1973) received her Master Degree in Demography and her PhD in Demography from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. She worked on this book while at the Population Research Centre, Groningen. This PhD project was carried out as a part of the larger research programme ‘HEalthy reproduction: Research for Action’ (HERA), a joint initiative of the Population Research Centre in Groningen, and the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) in The Hague.
