It's all about health

Debt Financing

Why Medical Marijuana Laws Reduce Traffic Deaths

07.45 egaoart No comments

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

States that legalize medical marijuana see fewer fatal car accidents, according to a new study, in part because people may be substituting marijuana smoking for drinking alcohol.

Sixteen states and the District of Columbia, have legalized medical marijuana since the mid-1990s. For the new study, economists looked at 1990-2009 government data on marijuana use and traffic deaths in the 13 states that had passed legalization laws during that time period. The data were from the National Household Survey on Drug Use and Health and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Comparing traffic deaths over time in states with and without medical marijuana law changes, the researchers found that fatal car wrecks dropped by 9% in states that legalized medical use — which was largely attributable to a decline in drunk driving. The researchers controlled for other factors like changes in driving laws and the number of miles driven that could affect the results.

Medical marijuana laws were not significantly linked with changes in daytime crash rates or those that didn't involve alcohol. But the rate of fatal crashes in which a driver had consumed any alcohol dropped 12% after medical marijuana was legalized, and crashes involving high levels of alcohol consumption fell 14%.

MORE: Study: Legal Medical Marijuana Doesn't Encourage Kids to Smoke More Pot

The authors found that medical marijuana laws reduced crashes in more men than women—by 13% compared to 9%— in line with data showing that men are more likely to register as medical marijuana users than women.

The overall reduction in traffic deaths was comparable to that seen after the national minimum drinking age was raised to 21, the authors note.

"We were astounded by how little is known about the effects of legalizing medical marijuana," lead author Daniel Rees, professor of economics at the University of Colorado-Denver, said in a statement. "We looked into traffic fatalities because there is good data, and the data allow us to test whether alcohol was a factor. ... Traffic fatalities are an important outcome from a policy perspective because they represent the leading cause of death among Americans ages 5 to 34."

The authors also found that in states that legalized medical use, there was no increase in marijuana smoking by teenagers — a finding seen in other studies as well. But, in many cases, the laws were linked with an increase in marijuana smoking among adults in their 20s; this rise was accompanied by a reduction in alcohol use by college age youth, suggesting that they were smoking weed instead.

Studies have consistently found that while mixing either marijuana or alcohol with driving is unadvisable, driving high is much safer than driving drunk. Research on stoned driving is inconsistent, with some studies finding impairment and others not; the alcohol data, however, is clear in establishing a link between drinking and significant deterioration in driving skills. The data also consistently shows that using both drugs together is worst of all.

MORE: Study: Whites More Likely to Abuse Drugs Than Blacks

Driving under the influence of marijuana seems to be less risky because people who are high tend to be aware that they are impaired and compensate, while alcohol tends to increase recklessness and create false confidence. Also, people are more likely to smoke weed at home or in private, rather than out at bars or other public events that require driving to get to.

The research was published by IZA, a nonprofit labor research organization associated with the University of Bonn in Germany. It is a working paper, which means it has not yet been subjected to peer review.

Maia Szalavitz is a health writer at TIME.com. Find her on Twitter at @maiasz. You can also continue the discussion on TIME Healthland's Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIMEHealthland.

Debt Financing

With Two More Deaths, Listeria Toll Rises to 23

13.44 egaoart No comments

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
Paul Taylor / Getty Images

An outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe is now linked to 23 deaths in the U.S., making it the deadliest known outbreak of food-borne illness in more than 25 years.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that 116 people have been sickened in the outbreak, including those who died. The number of deaths has now surpassed a 1998 outbreak of listeria in processed meats that was linked to 21 deaths. A 1985 listeria outbreak in Mexican-style soft cheeses killed 52 people.

The CDC confirmed two more deaths in Louisiana that the state had said it was investigating last week. Other deaths were reported in Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming.

Colorado's Jensen Farms recalled the tainted cantaloupe last month.

—By MARY CLARE JALONICK

Debt Financing

21 deaths now linked to listeria in cantaloupe

11.13 egaoart No comments

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health authorities say a nationwide outbreak of listeria in Colorado cantaloupes is now responsible for 21 deaths and the number may continue to grow.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday reported new deaths in Indiana and New York. The CDC also confirmed a death in Wyoming that state officials reported last week. CDC said 109 people have been sickened in the outbreak — including the 21 dead — in 23 states from California to the East Coast.

The agency previously reported five deaths in Colorado, five in New Mexico, two in Texas, two in Kansas and one each in Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. CDC said it is also aware of one miscarriage associated with the outbreak.

The death toll in the cantaloupe outbreak is now tied with a 1998 outbreak of listeria in hot dogs and possibly deli meats made by Bil Mar Foods, a subsidiary of Sara Lee Corp. That outbreak was also linked to 21 deaths. The deadliest outbreak in the United States before that is believed to have been listeria in Mexican-style soft cheese in 1985, which was linked to 52 deaths.

CDC officials have said the symptoms of listeria can take up to two months to show up and that they expect more illnesses through October.

Jensen Farms in Holly, Colo., recalled the tainted cantaloupes earlier this month after they were linked to listeria illnesses. They were shipped all over the country but should be off store shelves by now. The last cases of cantaloupes were shipped Sept. 10, and its shelf life is about two weeks.

The Food and Drug Administration has said state health officials found listeria in cantaloupes taken from Colorado grocery stores and from a victim's home that were grown at Jensen Farms. Matching strains of the disease were found on equipment and cantaloupe samples at Jensen Farms' packing facility in Granada, Colo.

The company has said they shipped the cantaloupe to around half of U.S. states, but added that they aren't sure where the cantaloupe went because it has been sold and resold. Thus, many companies may not even know if they bought or distributed the fruit. Fruit Fresh Up, Inc. of Depew, N.Y., issued a recall Thursday of 4,800 individual packages of cut cantaloupes, three weeks after the original recall and several days after the melons surpassed their freshness date.

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said this week that the agency is still investigating the cause of the outbreak. Officials have said they are looking at the farm's water supply and possible animal intrusions among other things to figure out the source of the problem. Listeria bacteria grow in moist, muddy conditions and are often carried by animals.

Officials from the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration say that any cantaloupes not from Jensen Farms are safe to eat. The recalled cantaloupes may be labeled "Colorado Grown," ''Distributed by Frontera Produce," ''Jensenfarms.com" or "Sweet Rocky Fords." Not all of the recalled cantaloupes are labeled with a sticker, the FDA said.

Government health officials said this is the first known outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe. Listeria is generally found in processed meats and unpasteurized milk and cheese, though there have been a growing number of outbreaks in produce.

Listeria is rare but more deadly than well-known pathogens like salmonella and E. coli. While most healthy adults can consume listeria with no ill effects, it can kill the elderly and those with compromised immune systems. It is also dangerous to pregnant women because it easily passes through to the fetus. The CDC said the median age of those sickened is 77, and most ill people are over 60 years old.

Symptoms include fever and muscle aches, often with other gastrointestinal symptoms.

The CDC has reported illnesses in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Colorado has the most illnesses, with 32 sickened. Texas has 16 reported illnesses, New Mexico has 13 and Oklahoma has 11.

___

Online:

CDC on cantaloupe outbreak: http://www.cdc.gov/listeria/index.html

FDA on cantaloupe recall: http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/CORENetwork/ucm272372.htm

Center for Science and the Public Interest, "Super Safe Your Kitchen": http://www.cspinet.org/new/pdf/safekitchen.pdf

___

Find Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MCJalonick

Associated Press

Technology

Cantaloupe illnesses and deaths expected to rise

04.03 egaoart No comments

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Owner Eric Jensen examines cantaloupe on the Jensen Farms near Holly, Colo., on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011. Federal health officials said Wednesday more illnesses and possibly more deaths may be linked to an outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe in coming weeks. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

A sign leading to the Jensen Farms near Holly, Colo., is pictured on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011. Federal health officials said Wednesday more illnesses and possibly more deaths may be linked to an outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe in coming weeks. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

Cantaloupes rot in the afternoon heat on a field on the Jensen Farms near Holly, Colo., on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011. Federal health officials said Wednesday more illnesses and possibly more deaths may be linked to an outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe in coming weeks. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

Workers use a tractor to remove plastic from a field of rotting cantaloupe on the Jensen Farms near Holly, Colo., on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011. The Food and Drug Administration has recalled 300,000 cases of cantaloupe grown on the Jensen Farms after connecting it with a listeria out break. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)eval("var currentItemd57851005a80479aaeeb90a12c70b9ff = 1;");eval("var nextd57851005a80479aaeeb90a12c70b9ff = 0;");eval("var previousd57851005a80479aaeeb90a12c70b9ff = 0;");

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials said Wednesday more illnesses and possibly more deaths may be linked to an outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe in coming weeks.

So far, the outbreak has caused at least 72 illnesses — including up to 16 deaths — in 18 states, making it the deadliest food outbreak in the United States in more than a decade.

The heads of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said consumers who have cantaloupes produced by Jensen Farms in Colorado should throw them out. If they are not sure where the fruit is from, they shouldn't eat it.

Neither the government nor Jensen Farms has supplied a list of retailers who may have sold the fruit. Officials say consumers should ask retailers about the origins of their cantaloupe. If they still aren't sure, they should get rid of it.

"If it's not Jensen Farms, it's OK to eat," said Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC. "But if you can't confirm it's not Jensen Farms, then it's best to throw it out."

Jensen Farms of Holly, Colo. says it shipped cantaloupes to 25 states, though the FDA has said it may be more, and illnesses have been discovered in several states that were not on the shipping list. A spokeswoman for Jensen Farms said the company's product is often sold and resold, so they do not always know where it went.

The recalled cantaloupes may be labeled "Colorado Grown," ''Distributed by Frontera Produce," ''Jensenfarms.com" or "Sweet Rocky Fords." Not all of the recalled cantaloupes are labeled with a sticker, the FDA said. The company said it shipped out more than 300,000 cases of cantaloupes that contained five to 15 melons, meaning the recall involved 1.5 million to 4.5 million pieces of fruit.

The FDA said none of the cantaloupes had been exported, reversing an earlier statement that some of the tainted melons had been shipped abroad.

Frieden and FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said that illnesses are expected for weeks to come because the incubation period for listeria can be a month or even longer. That means that someone who ate contaminated cantaloupe last week may not get sick until next month. Jensen Farms last shipped cantaloupes on Sept. 10. The shelf life is about two weeks.

"We will see more cases likely through October," Hamburg said.

The Food and Drug Administration said state health officials found listeria in cantaloupes taken from Colorado grocery stores and from a victim's home that were grown at Jensen Farms. Matching strains of the disease were found on equipment and cantaloupe samples at Jensen Farms' packing facility in Granada, Colo.

Sherri McGarry, a senior adviser in the FDA's Office of Foods, said the agency is looking at the farm's water supply and possible animal intrusions among other things in trying to figure out how the cantaloupes became contaminated. Listeria bacteria grow in moist, muddy conditions and are often carried by animals.

The health officials said this is the first known outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe. Listeria is generally found in processed meats and unpasteurized milk and cheese, though there have been a growing number of outbreaks in produce. Hamburg called the outbreak a "surprise" and said the agencies are studying it closely to find out how it happened.

Cantaloupe is often the source of outbreaks, however. Frieden said CDC had identified 10 other cantaloupe outbreaks in the last decade, most of them from salmonella.

Listeria is more deadly than well-known pathogens like salmonella and E. coli, though those outbreaks generally cause many more illnesses. Twenty-one people died in an outbreak of listeria poisoning in 1998 traced to contaminated hot dogs and possibly deli meats made by Bil Mar Foods, a subsidiary of Sara Lee Corp. Another large listeria outbreak, in 1985, killed 52 people and was linked to Mexican-style soft cheese.

Listeria generally only sickens the elderly, pregnant women and others with compromised immune systems. The CDC said the median age of those sickened is 78 and that 1 in 5 who contract the disease can die from it. Symptoms include fever and muscle aches, often with other gastrointestinal symptoms.

Unlike many pathogens, listeria bacteria can grow at room temperatures and even refrigerator temperatures. It is hardy and can linger long after the source of the contamination is gone — health officials say people who may have had the contaminated fruit in their kitchens should clean and sanitize any surfaces it may have touched.

The CDC said Tuesday that 13 deaths are linked to the tainted fruit. State and local officials say they are investigating three additional deaths that may be connected.

The death toll released by the CDC Tuesday surpassed the number of deaths linked to an outbreak of salmonella in peanuts almost three years ago. Nine people died in that outbreak. The CDC reported four deaths in New Mexico, two deaths each in Colorado and Texas and one death each in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Maryland.

New Mexico officials said Tuesday they are investigating a fifth death, while health authorities in Kansas and Wyoming said they too are investigating additional deaths possibly linked to the tainted fruit.

The CDC reported the 72 illnesses and deaths in 18 states. Cases of listeria were reported in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The most illnesses were reported in Colorado, which has seen 15 sickened. Fourteen illnesses were reported in Texas, 10 in New Mexico and eight in Oklahoma.

While most healthy adults can consume listeria with no ill effects, it can kill the elderly and those with compromised immune systems. It is also dangerous to pregnant women because it easily passes through to the fetus. The CDC's Frieden said that two of those sickened were pregnant women but they have since recovered.

___

Online:

CDC on cantaloupe outbreak: http://www.cdc.gov/listeria/index.html

FDA on cantaloupe recall: http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/CORENetwork/ucm272372.htm

Center for Science and the Public Interest, "Super Safe Your Kitchen": http://www.cspinet.org/new/pdf/safekitchen.pdf

___

Find Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MCJalonick

Associated Press

Hospital maternity deaths apology

00.57 egaoart No comments

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
29 September 2011 Last updated at 12:14 GMT Tebussum Ali, also known as Sareena Ali

Sareena Ali and her baby died in January A hospital trust boss has apologised for failings in the care given to two maternity patients who died.

An external review into Violet Stephens' death at Queen's Hospital in Romford, east London, in April revealed a succession of failures in her care.

Trust chief executive Averil Dongworth said Ms Stephens and Tebussum Ali, who died in January, did not receive the care they were entitled to.

The trust is facing legal action by 12 women and families over maternity care.

According to the independent report, Ms Stephens was admitted with pre-eclampsia, a potentially life-threatening condition in pregnant women.

It found there was a failure to administer a blood transfusion as planned and a delay in making the decision to deliver her baby.

It also revealed that when she was found unresponsive with gasping breath it took 25 minutes for a cardiac arrest call to be made.

Ruptured womb

The report, commissioned by the Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, also examined the death of Tebussum Ali, known as Sareena, who died along with her newborn baby.

Staff had failed to spot signs of her ruptured womb and tried to resuscitate her with a disconnected oxygen mask.

The trust's chief executive said: "Our hospitals deliver nearly 10,000 babies each year and it is our highest priority to ensure each woman receives the highest standard of care.

"I am so sorry that both Violet Stephens and Sareena Ali did not receive the standard of care they were entitled to expect.

"I am determined to address problems we identified in their care so that other women can be confident about our maternity service in the future."

In order to improve its maternity service she said they had recruited an extra 72 midwives this year and improved staff support and training.

It is understood 12 women or their families are taking legal action against the trust.

A review of maternity services at the hospital by the Care Quality Commission is due to report back in the next few weeks.

Illness, Deaths From Listeria-Tainted Cantaloupes Expected to Rise

09.23 egaoart No comments

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Federal health officials said Wednesday more illnesses and possibly more deaths may be linked to an outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe in coming weeks.

So far, the outbreak has caused at least 72 illnesses — including up to 16 deaths — in 18 states, making it the deadliest food outbreak in the United States in more than a decade.

MORE: Listeria-Laced Cantaloupe: 6 Things You Need to Know

"If it's not Jensen Farms, it's OK to eat," said Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC. "But if you can't confirm it's not Jensen Farms, then it's best to throw it out."

The FDA said none of the cantaloupes had been exported, reversing an earlier statement that some of the tainted melons had been shipped abroad.

MORE: Listeria Outbreak in Cantaloupes Is the Deadliest in a Decade

"We will see more cases likely through October," Hamburg said.

MORE: What's Lurking in Your Meat and Poultry? Probably Staph

Cantaloupe is often the source of outbreaks, however. Frieden said CDC had identified 10 other cantaloupe outbreaks in the last decade, most of them from salmonella.

MORE: See TIME's health and medicine covers.

The CDC said Tuesday that 13 deaths are linked to the tainted fruit. State and local officials say they are investigating three additional deaths that may be connected.

—By MARY CLARE JALONICK

More deaths when green doctors place neck stents

06.11 egaoart No comments

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
By Frederik Joelving

NEW YORK | Wed Sep 28, 2011 6:21pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People about to undergo a controversial stenting procedure in the neck might want to check their doctor's credentials first, researchers say.

According to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, patients whose doctors do lots of the procedures are nearly half as likely to die over the next month as those in less-experienced hands.

During the treatment, called carotid stenting, doctors clean out cholesterol buildups in the carotid artery in the neck that sometimes cause strokes. Then they insert a small metal mesh tube, the stent, to prop the vessel open.

But if they're unfortunate, part of the cholesterol deposit might break off during the procedure and be released into the blood stream, producing the dreaded stroke the patient hoped to avoid.

"A little piece of it just flows upstream and can lodge in a smaller blood vessel in the brain," said Dr. Ethan A. Halm, who wrote an editorial about the new findings.

Based on Medicare records of nearly 25,000 procedures, the new study found a 30-day death rate of 1.4 percent in patients whose doctors placed at least 24 stents a year. By contrast, that death figure was as high as 2.5 percent when the doctors did six or fewer procedures annually.

The same pattern held true when comparing the initial and later procedures done by inexperienced doctors.

Dr. Brahmajee Nallamothu, a cardiologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor who led the work, said the findings don't prove that lack of familiarity with the procedure explains the findings.

But he said that is likely to be the case, since there are no uniform standards for the training doctors need to undergo before they can perform carotid stenting.

"Patients shouldn't be shy about asking their physician who is going to be doing this procedure," Nallamothu told Reuters Health. "I think that it's a very fair question. If I were a patient, I would certainly want to know."

Halm added that carotid stenting is not the only alternative for patients with clogged arteries. The more common procedure is surgery, and some doctors recommend sticking just to medications. Especially when people have no symptoms, many believe doing surgery to clean them out is too hazardous.

With drugs alone, he told Reuters Health, the yearly stroke risk can be lowered to less than one percent, challenging the need for a procedure with significant risks.

And he added that the new study doesn't look at the total number of strokes caused by stenting, which tend to outnumber deaths by a factor of three.

"It's particularly important that people weigh the pros and cons of all therapies," said Halm.

In his view, the new results deal a blow to carotid stenting, which has become more and more common since it was approved in 2004. He estimated some 10,000 carotid stenting procedures were performed each year during the study, a number that has likely increased.

"There are a lot of tricky elements to the procedure," Halm said. "The article by Nallamothu shows that more people think they can do it well than actually can do it well."

If people decide that stenting is the right option for them, they might still have a hard time finding an experienced doctor to perform the procedure.

"The easiest piece of advice is to use an expert middle man," Halm said, adding that a neurologist can usually guide patients to an appropriate expert.

Nallamothu said he hoped the new study would spur the development of stricter training protocols and ensure that patients are followed more closely after stenting in the future.

SOURCE: bit.ly/n9JFW2 Journal of the American Medical Association, September 27, 2011.

Leaders vow to cut deaths from chronic disease

03.01 egaoart No comments

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — World leaders have pledged to take wide-ranging action to prevent millions of deaths from cancer, diabetes, and heart and lung disease by tackling the key causes — smoking, excessive drinking, lack of exercise and unhealthy diets dominated by fast food.

But the 13-page political declaration approved at the first-ever General Assembly meeting on chronic diseases which ended Tuesday left unanswered the question of coordinating an international response to what the leaders called "a challenge of epidemic proportions."

The declaration notes "with profound concern" that according to the World Health Organization, an estimated 36 million of the 57 million global deaths in 2008 were due principally to cancer, diabetes and heart and lung diseases — including about 9 million men and women below the age of 60. WHO said 80 percent of these deaths were in developing countries.

At a final round-table discussion, Prime Minister Denzil Douglas of St. Kitts and Nevis said, "Our response must be urgent, it must be comprehensive, and it has to be fully coordinated at the national, regional and local levels."

Douglas, who chairs the Caribbean Community known as CARICOM, said priority must be given to international coordination so there can be effective monitoring of the diseases and effective measures to reduce the risk factors and strengthen health care systems, especially in developing countries where cases of the four diseases are increasing rapidly.

The only other high-level General Assembly meeting on a health issue, in 2001, led to creation of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, with billions of dollars provided by governments and private groups such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

At the round-table, many speakers proposed that the global fight against non-communicable diseases follow the same model. Some proposed a coordinating body, possibly under the World Health Organization, and Poland said an international network of organizations specializing in chronic diseases would be valuable.

The declaration asks U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to submit options to strengthen and facilitate global action to combat these diseases to the General Assembly by the end of 2012.

"Non-communicable diseases can be prevented and their impacts reduced, with millions of lives saved and untold suffering avoided," the declaration said.

To achieve this, the leaders pledged to accelerate implementation of WHO's anti-smoking treaty and its global strategies to promote healthy diets and physical activity, and reduce the harmful use of alcohol.

They also pledged to promote cost-effective measures to reduce salt, sugar and saturated fats and eliminate industrially produced transfats in foods and to encourage policies that support the production and consumption of foods that contribute to healthy diets.

The leaders also pledged to promote increased access to cost effective cancer screening programs, help improve "access and affordability for medicines and technologies" to prevent and control chronic diseases, and try to identify and mobilize sustained funding.

Many countries said they were already taking action to address the crisis.

South Africa said it had just passed regulations to reduce the use of trans fats and is drawing up regulations to reduce salt content in processed food. Kenya said its parliament has banned smoking in all public places and prohibited tobacco advertising and the sale of tobacco products to anyone under the age of 21. Australia announced it is giving $25 million to help Pacific island countries tackle non-communicable diseases — and starting next year it will require all tobacco products sold in Australia to have the same "unattractive dark brown" packaging covered by graphic health warnings to discourage smoking.

WHO Director General Margaret Chan, who urged world leaders to stand up to the tobacco and fast food industries in a keynote speech Monday, applauded efforts in Australia, Uruguay and elsewhere to counter tobacco company advertising campaigns.

But she urged vigilance, telling Tuesday's round-table participants: "Watch out. Even an old dog like the tobacco industry can learn some dirty new tricks."

Associated Press

Newborn deaths halved in China

23.28 egaoart No comments

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
16 September 2011 Last updated at 00:18 GMT A newborn baby

China has made great strides in lowering death rates in newborn babies A campaign encouraging women in China to give birth in hospital has cut newborn deaths by half, says a study in The Lancet.

Researchers from Beijing and London found that babies born in hospital were two to three times less likely to die in their first month than those born at home.

The study analysed 1.5 million births between 1996 and 2008 in China.

Some experts said other factors could have played a part in the findings.

Since 2000, China has been promoting hospital delivery, and nearly all babies are now born in hospital except in the poorest regions.

A team from Peking University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine used data from China's Maternal and Mortality Surveillance System to examine trends in neonatal mortality by cause and socioeconomic region.

The results showed that deaths in neonates (within the first month of life) fell by 62% over 12 years up to 2008.

The neonatal mortality rate in China fell from 24.7 per 1000 livebirths between 1996 and 1998, to 9.3 per 1000 between 2007 and 2008.

In urban hospitals in China, the mortality rate for newborns is five per 1000. For babies born at home in urban areas it is 17 per 1000.

Continue reading the main story

In the long run you have to get women into hospitals if you want to lower mortality rates”

End Quote Prof Carine Ronsmans LSHTM The findings also showed that babies born in hospitals in the poorer rural areas were almost four times more likely to die than babies born in hospitals in urban areas.

The study suggested this could be the result of lower quality hospital care in rural areas, or hospital care being sought too late in the poorest areas.

Care is crucial

Professor Carine Ronsmans, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said other countries could learn from China's progress in reducing neonatal mortality.

"We can't prove in this study that it's the hospitals that made the difference but there is a strong indication that it's much safer to give birth in hospital than at home.

"There is a very big drive in poor countries to do community-based interventions because people think it's cheaper and more effective.

"But in the long run you have to get women into hospitals if you want to lower mortality rates for mother and baby."

And Prof Ronsmans cautioned that quality of care was still of primary importance in China.

"Hospital delivery does not save babies' lives unless high-quality neonatal care is available and accessible in the crucial first few days after delivery."

Writing about the research in The Lancet, Dr Diego Bassani and Daniel Roth, from the Hospital for Sick Children at the University of Toronto in Canada, said the link between increased numbers of hospital deliveries and reduced neonatal mortality rates was not straightforward.

"The rate and magnitude of the increase in the proportion of facility-based deliveries between 1996 and 2008 varied substantially across China's five socioeconomic strata, which contrasts with the uniformity of the proportional decline in neonatal mortality.

"This finding suggests that factors other than facility-based delivery could have been involved.

"Although the investigators report strong associations between neonatal mortality and place of birth (home versus hospital)… Many characteristics differentiate families that choose (or have access to) facility deliveries and those who deliver at home; such differences would be expected to exist within, and not just between, sociodemographic categories."