Birth-Weight-Standardized Neonatal Mortality Rates and the Prevention of Low Birth Weight: How Does the United States Compare with Sweden?

Abstract

BIRTH-WEIGHT-STANDARDIZED NEONATAL MORTALITY RATES AND THE PREVENTION OF LOW BIRTH WEIGHT: HOW DOES MASSACHUSETTS COMPARE WITH SWEDEN?Bernard Guyer, M.D., M.P.H., Lee Anne Wallach, M.D., M.P.H., and Sharon L. Rosen, PH.D.The crude infant mortality rate and crude neonatal mortality rate in the United States are often compared unfavorably with those of other industrialized Western nations, especially Sweden.^{1 , 2} In 1978, the United States, with an infant mortality rate of 13.8 deaths per thousand live births, ranked 17th among these nations, whereas Sweden ranked second with an infant mortality rate of 7.8. Similarly, in 1978, the neonatal mortality rate in the . . .