Bradford & District | Archive | 2005 | August | 11
From the archive, first published Thursday 11th Aug 2005.
Babies born in Bradford to mothers who were born in Pakistan are more likely to die before the age of one than babies whose mothers were born in the UK, a study claims.
Statistics revealed in a report by the Bradford Infant Mortality Commission show the country of birth of the mother affects death rates of babies.
Infant mortality rates for babies born in Bradford to women who were born in Pakistan were 13.0 per 1,000 live births, compared to a national rate of 11.2 per 1,000 live births for the same ethnic group.
The death rate of Bradford babies born to UK born mothers was also significantly higher than the national average with a rate of 7.2 deaths per 1,000 live births, compared to 5.4 per 1,000 births for England and Wales.
The commission says these two groups might not be strictly comparable, as UK-born mothers in Bradford include a higher proportion of second generation mothers from non-white ethnic groups.
The report says: "Initial findings confirm that babies of Pakistani origin have higher infant mortality rates than white babies.
"Further work is being undertaken on behalf of the commission to investigate infant mortality rates by ethnicity, alongside gender and age at death of the babies who died."
The commission's progress report also reveals Bradford's death rates for babies under one were excessively high due a concentration of deaths of babies aged between one month and one year. Work has now been commissioned to look at the causes.
Dr Liz Kernohan, director of public health for North Bradford and Airedale Primary Care Trusts, who sits on the commission, said trends needed to be analysed further to include how know risk factors including ethnicity and deprivation affect death rates.
"Risk factors also include neonatal heath and nutrition of the mother, access to health care, both ante natal and during the birth," she said.
"We also need to look at the babies birth weights and gestation periods at birth as babies chances of dying are greater the lower the gestation and birth weight."
A meeting of the commission yesterday heard from Professor Alison Macfarlane, of City University, London, who spoke about understanding factors which influence the health and well-being of mothers and babies and Derek Tuffnell, consultant obstetrician at Bradford Teaching Hospitals, who gave an overview of baby deaths in the city.
The commission was set up in February to examine why Bradford has the second highest infant mortality rates in the country.
© Newsquest Media Group 2008