Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Mortality of the child

  • Chapter
Safer Childbirth?

  • 76 Accesses

Abstract

It is impossible to find evidence that medical care raised the safety of birth for mother or child before 1935. It is impossible to find evidence which supports the claim that improvements in the education and technical efficiency of doctors or midwives, or indeed in other elements of maternity care, were responsible for the major contribution to the spectacular and sustained improvement after 1936 in the survival of mothers in childbirth. It is just as difficult to show that these were the factors responsible for the markedly improved survival of post-neonatal infants after 1900 and of neonatal infants and fetuses after 1939.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 29.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Registrar General, Statistical Review for the Year 1960, Part 1 Medical, HMSO, London, Table 4.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Registrar General, Statistical Review for the Year 1973, Part 1B Medical, HMSO, London, Table 24, Supplement.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Douglas, C. (1955) Trends in the risks of childbearing and in the mortalities of infants during the last thirty years. J. Obstet. Gynaecol. Br. Emp., 62, 216–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Duncan, E., Baird, D. and Thomson, A. (1952) The causes and prevention of stillbirths and first week deaths; Part I: The evidence of vital statistics. J. Obstet. Gynaecol. Br. Emp., 59, 183–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Baird, D. (1960) The evolution of modern obstetrics. Lancet, 10 September, 557–64.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Woolf, B. (1947) Studies in infant mortality. Br. J. Soc. Med., 2, 73–125.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Baird, D. (1947) Social class and foetal mortality. Lancet, 11 October, 531–5.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Baird, D., Thomson, A. and Duncan, E. (1953) The causes and prevention of stillbirths and first week deaths; Part II: Evidence from Aberdeen clinical records. J. Obstet. Gynaecol. Br. Emp., 60, 17–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Baird, D., Walker, J. and Thomson, A. (1954) The causes and prevention of stillbirths and first week deaths; Part III: A classification of deaths by clinical cause; the effect of age, parity and length of gestation on death rates by cause. J. Obstet. Gynaecol. Br. Emp, 61, 433–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Baird, D. and Thomson, A. (1969) Reduction of perinatal mortality by improving standards of obstetric care in Perinatal Problems (eds N. Butler and E. Alberman), Livingstone, Edinburgh, Chapter 14.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Butler, N. and Bonham, D. (1963) Perinatal Mortality, Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Tew, M. (1977) Obstetric hospitals and general practitioner units-the statistical record. J. R. Coll. Gen. Pract., 27, 689–94.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Tew, M. (1978) The case against hospital deliveries: the statistical evidence in The Place of Birth (eds S. Kitzinger and J. Davis), Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 55–65.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Tew, M. (1985) Safety in intranatal care: the statistics in Modern Obstetrics in General Practice (ed. G.N. Marsh), (Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 203–23.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Tew, M. (1986) Do obstetric intranatal interventions make birth safer? Br. J. Obstet. Gynaecol., 93, 659–74.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Baird, D. and Thomson, A. (1969) Background to the perinatal mortality survey in Perinatal Problems (eds N. Butler and E. Alberman), Livingstone, Edinburgh, Chapter 1.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Baird, D. and Thomson, A. (1969) General factors underlying perinatal mortality rates in Perinatal Problems (eds N. Butler and E. Alberman), Livingstone, Edinburgh, Chapter 2.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Baird, D. and Thomson, A. (1969) The survey perinatal deaths reclassified by special clinico-pathological assessment in Perinatal Problems (eds N. Butler and E. Alberman), Livingstone, Edinburgh, Chapter 11.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Baird, D. and Thomson, A. (1969) The effects of obstetric and environmental factors on perinatal mortality by clinico-pathological causes in Perinatal Problems (eds N. Butler and E. Alberman), Livingstone, Edinburgh, Chapter 12.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Baird, D. and Thomson, A. (1969) Geographical differences in perinatal mortality by clinico-pathological cause in Perinatal Problems (eds N. Butler and E. Alberman), Livingstone, Edinburgh, Chapter 13.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry of Health, On the state of the public health, Annual Reports for the years 1954 to 1964, Maternal and Child Health, HMSO, London.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Chamberlain, R., Chamberlain, G., Howlett, B. and Claireaux, A. (1975) British Births 1970 Vol. 1, The First Week of Life, Heinemann, London.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Chamberlain, G., Philipp, E., Howlett, B. and Masters, K. (1978) British Births 1970 Vol. 2, Obstetric Care, Heinemann, London.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Kitzinger, S. (1978) Women’s experiences of birth at home in The Place of Birth (eds S. Kitzinger and J. Davis), Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 135–56.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Aiment, E., Barr, A., Reid, M. and Reid, J. (1967) Normal confinement: a domiciliary and hospital study. Br. Med. J., 2, 530–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Goldthorpe, W. and Richman, J. (1974) Maternal attitudes to unintended home confinement. A case study of the effects of the hospital strike upon domiciliary confinements. Practitioner, 212, 845–53.

    Google Scholar 

  27. O’Brien, M. (1978) Home and hospital confinement: a comparison of the experiences of mothers having home and hospital confinements. J. R. Coll. Gen. Pract., 28, 460–6.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Barron, S., Thomson, A. and Philips, P. (1977) Home and hospital confinement in Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1960–1969. Br. J. Obstet. Gynaecol., 84, 401–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Bull, M. (1980) Ten years’ experience in a general practice obstetric unit. J. R. Coll. Gen. Pract., 30, 208–15.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Registrar General, Statistical Reviews for the Years 1965–1973, Part II Population, HMSO, London, Appendix B.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, Birth Statistics, 1974–1981, Series FMI, Nos 1–8, Place of Confinement, HMSO, London, Table 8.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, Mortality Statistics: Perinatal and Infant: Social and Biological Factors, Series DH3, No. 18, HMSO, London, Tables 23a, 23b, 14a.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Steer, P. (1986) Postmaturity — much ado about nothing? Br. J. Obstet. Gynaecol., 93, 105–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. O’Driscoll, K., Carroll, C. and Coughlan, M. (1975) Selective induction of labour. Br. Med. J., 2, 727–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Williams, R. and Studd, J. (1980) Induction of labour. J. Matern. Child Health, 5, 16–21.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Gibb, D., Cardozo, L., Studd, J. and Cooper, D. (1982) Prolonged pregnancy: is induction of labour indicated? Br. J. Obstet. Gynaecol., 89, 292–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Cardozo, L., Fysh, J. and Pearce, J. (1986) Prolonged pregnancy: the management debate. Br. Med. J., 293, 1059–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Fox, H. (1985) Placental structure in Scientific Basis of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (ed. R. Macdonald), 3rd edn, Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh.

    Google Scholar 

  39. Hall, M., Maclntyre, S. and Porter, M. (1985) Antenatal Care Assessed, Aberdeen University Press, Aberdeen, p. 110.

    Google Scholar 

  40. Huygen, F. (1976) Home deliveries in Holland: Dutch maternity care and home confinements. J. R. Coll Gen. Pract., 26, 244–8.

    Google Scholar 

  41. Tew, M. and Damstra-Wijmenga, S. (1990) Safest birth attendants: recent Dutch evidence. (Awaiting publication)

    Google Scholar 

  42. Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (1987) Birth by Obstetric Assistance and Place of Delivery, 1986. Month. Bull. Popul. Health Stat., 11, 22–31.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (1986) Computer print-outs of raw data on birth by obstetric assistance and place of delivery, unpublished: private access granted.

    Google Scholar 

  44. SIG (Dutch Information Centre for the Health Care Services) (1987) 5 jaar LVR 1982–6, Utrecht.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Damstra-Wijmenga, S. (1984) Home confinement: the positive results in Holland. J. R. Coll. Gen. Pract., 34, 425–30.

    Google Scholar 

  46. Klein, M., Lloyd, I., Redman, C. et al. (1983) A comparison of low-risk pregnant women booked for delivery in two systems of care: shared-care (consultant) and integrated general practice unit. I Obstetrical procedures and neonatal outcome. II Labour and delivery management and neonatal outcome. Br. J. Obstet. Gynaecol., 90, 118–22; 123–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Rosenblatt, R., Reinken, J. and Shoemack, P. (1985) Is obstetrics safe in small hospitals? Lancet, ii, 429–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Hemminki, E. (1983) Obstetric practice in Finland, 1950–1980: changes in technology and its relation to health. Med. Care, 21, 12, 1131–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Hemminki, E. (1985) Perinatal mortality distributed by type of hospital in the central hospital district of Helsinki, Finland. Scand. J. Soc. Med., 13, 113–8.

    Google Scholar 

  50. Hoffman, H., Meireik, O. and Bakketeig, L. (1984) Methodological considerations in the analysis of perinatal mortality rates in Perinatal Epidemiology (ed. M. Bracken), Oxford University Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  51. Stewart, D. (1981) The Five Standards for Safe Childbearing (ed. D. Stewart), Napsac Reproductions, Marble Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  52. Gaskin, I. (1981) The farm: a living example of the five standards in The Five Standards for Safe Childbearing (ed. D. Stewart), Napsac Reproductions, Marble Hill, pp. 327–44.

    Google Scholar 

  53. Mehl, L. (1978) Research on alternatives: what it tells us about hospitals in Twenty-First Century Obstetrics Now! (eds D. Stewart and L. Stewart) Napsac International, Marble Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  54. Van Enk, A. and De Leeuw, R. (1987) Phototherapy: the hospital as risk factor. Br. Med. J., 294, 747–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Department of Health and Social Security/Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (1980) Hospital Inpatient Enquiry Maternity Tables 1973–76, Series MB4 No. 8, HMSO, London, Table 18.

    Google Scholar 

  56. Department of Health and Social Security/Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (1988) Hospital Inpatient Enquiry Maternity Tables 1982–85, Series MB4 No. 28, HMSO, London, Table 6.4.

    Google Scholar 

  57. Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, Monitor, Infant and Perinatal Mortality 1985: Birthweight, Series DH3, HMSO, London.

    Google Scholar 

  58. Newton, R. and Hunt, L. (1984) Psychosocial stress in pregnancy and its relation to low birth weight. Br. Med. J., 288, 1191–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. McKee, I. (1984) Community antenatal care: the Sighthill Community antenatal scheme in Pregnancy Care for the 1980s (eds L. Zander and G. Chamberlain), The Royal Society of Medicine and MacMillan, London, Chapter 5.

    Google Scholar 

  60. Oakley, A. (1985) Social support in pregnancy: the ‘soft’ way to increase birthweight? Soc. Sci. Med., 11, 1259–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  61. Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (1983) Nutrition in Pregnancy, RCOG, London.

    Google Scholar 

  62. Baird, D. (1985) Changing problems and priorities in obstetrics. Br. J. Obstet. Gynaecol., 92, 115–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  63. Steiner, E., Sanders, E., Phillips, E. and Maddock, C. (1980) Very low birthweight children at school: comparison of neonatal management methods. Br. Med. J., 281, 1237–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  64. Whitelaw, A. and Sleath, K. (1985) Myth of the marsupial mother: home care of very low birthweight babies in Bogota, Colombia. Lancet, i, 1206–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  65. Sandhu, B., Stevenson, R., Cooke, R. and Pharoah, P. (1986) Cost of neonatal intensive care for very low-birth-weight infants. Lancet, 15 March, 600–3.

    Google Scholar 

  66. Skeoch, C., Rosenberg, K., Turner, T. et al. (1987) Very low-birthweight survivors: illness and readmission to hospital in the first 15 months of life. Br. Med. J., 2, 579–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  67. Mcintosh, N. (1988) Clinical issues in The very immature infant (eds A. Whitelaw and R. Cooke), Br. Med. Bull, 44(4), 1126.

    Google Scholar 

  68. Sinclair, J., Torrance, G., Boyle, M. et al. (1981) Evaluation of neonatal intensive care programs. N. Engl. J. Med., 305, 489–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  69. Pinion, S. and Mowat, J. (1988) Pre-term caesarean section. Br. J. Obstet. Gynaecol., 95, 277–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  70. Hall, M., Chng, P. and Macgillivray, I. (1980) Is routine antenatal care worth while? Lancet, ii, 78–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  71. Chiswick, M. (1985) Intrauterine growth retardation. Br. Med. J., 291, 845–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  72. Carstairs, V. and Cole, S. (1984) Spina bifida and anencephaly in Scotland. Br. Med. J., 289, 1182–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  73. Stein, Z., Süsser, M., Saenger, G. and Marolla, F. (1975) Famine and Human Development: The Dutch Hunger Winter of 1944/45, Oxford University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  74. Smithells, R., Nevin, N. et al. (1983) Further experience of vitamin supplementation for prevention of neural tube defect recurrences. Lancet, 7 May, 1027–31.

    Google Scholar 

  75. Owens, J., Harris, F., McAlister, E. and West, I. (1981) Nineteen year incidence of neural tube defects in area under constant surveillance. Lancet, ii, 1032–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  76. Kloosterman, G. (1978) Organisation of obstetric care in The Netherlands. Ned. Tijdschr. Geneesk., 1161–71.

    Google Scholar 

  77. Chamberlain, G. (1985) The fetal hazards in pregnancy in Modern Obstetrics in General Practice (ed. G. Marsh), Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 132–51.

    Google Scholar 

  78. Inch, S. (1982) Birthrights, Hutchinson, London.

    Google Scholar 

  79. Jarvis, S., Holloway, J. and Hey, E. (1985) Increase in cerebral palsy in normal birthweight babies. Arch. Dis. Child., 60, 1113–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  80. Grant, A., O’Brien, N., Joy, M. et al. (1989) Cerebral palsy among children born during the Dublin randomized controlled trial of intrapartum monitoring, Lancet, ii, 1233–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  81. Silverman, W. (1980) Retrolental Fibroplasia: A Modern Parable, Grune and Stratton, New York.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Marjorie Tew
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1990 M. Tew

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Tew, M. (1990). Mortality of the child. In: Safer Childbirth?. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2975-4_8

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2975-4_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-412-33740-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-2975-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation