Peking University, Beijing, May 17, 2010: Researchers from Peking University and University of Edinburgh published an article titled “Causes of Deaths in Children Younger than 5 Years in China in 2008” on the world’s leading general medical journal Lancet. The article concluded that preterm birth complications were expected to become the leading cause of child mortality in China, whereas deaths from congenital abnormalities, accidents, and sudden infant death syndrome were predicted to continue increasing in importance in the long term.
Prof. Guo Yan from Department of Health Policy and Management, School of PKU Public Health has been one of the corresponding authors of this article. Prof. Guo received the degree of Bachelor of Medicine at Beijing Medical University in 1982 and then took a master’s degree at Tulane University, USA. Currently, Prof. Guo is the Vice Dean of School of Public Health at PKU.
China has made substantial progress in reducing the number of child deaths over the past two decades. During 1990–2008, the mortality rates in neonates (<1 month), postneonatal infants (1-11months), and children (< 5 years) were reduced by 70%, 72% and 71% respectively, meeting the targets set in the Millennium Development Goal ahead of time. The rate of progress was especially pronounced during 1990–95 (31% reduction in mortality rate in children <5 years) and 2002–07 (48% reduction). However, articles studying China’s child deaths are relatively rare abroad.
This project was part of the research program of the global burden of disease for children. The authors systematically searched Chinese databases that were available to the public and also obtained information from 206 high-quality community-based longitudinal studies of different causes of deaths in children (<5 years) that were written in the Chinese language while analyzing causes of deaths in neonates, postneonatal infants, and children under 5 years in China. A statistical model was developed to estimate the total number of deaths in children according to provinces, age groups, and main causes.
Statistics from various provinces demonstrated that apart from immunity and health care intervention, the development of infrastructure and health system, the rise in the educational level of the common people, the increase in per capita and household incomes and China's one child family policy were all determinants in reducing child mortality rate. China provides a model with potential for future studies of social, economic, demographic policy, and determinants of child survival related to health systems, and for comparison of their importance during a period of progress in reduction of its child mortality rate.
WHO has cooperated with experts from UNICEF for many years, estimating child deaths in low-income and middle-income countries in the light of epidemiology, but they did not include much information from China. The authors learned through this research program that the high quantity and quality of methods used in the studies from within China were impressive. Now there can be no further justification for omitting Chinese studies from global estimates of any disease burden, especially with the population size of China.
One expert commentary on the article points out: “the paper uncovered a treasure trove of Chinese language publications from representative community settings in China, and analysed the information with standard CHERG(WHO/UNICEF’s Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group) methods to generate information about trends and causes of neonatal and child mortality rates. The results are striking and provide robust information about cause-specific child mortality estimates, trends, and differentials…. The rapid and consistent decline in all-cause neonatal mortality in China thus also offers an opportunity for studying the effect of interventions for family planning, maternal health, and nutrition on overall newborn and child mortality rates.”
Edited by: Xiang Yunke
Translated by: Chen Miaojuan
Source: http://www.ebiotrade.com/
