title: Neonatal morbidity risk: a study of the relationship to birthweight and gestational age in four Italian centres.
abstract: Data collected in four Italian centres, in the framework of a multicentre survey of perinatal preventive medicine sponsored by the Italian National Research Council from 1973, have been used to evaluate the relationship among neonatal morbidity (NM), birthweight (BW) and gestational age (GA). A linear logistic model, whose structure is the same in all the centres, appeared to be appropriate to fit the observed NM relative frequencies corresponding to each cell of the two-way (BW X GA) layout. Fitted models have been used to represent NM risk as a function of GA and BW, providing a chart of neonatal morbidity risk for each centre. Although such charts show recognizable similarities (among the centres) confirming the coherence in the results attained, some differences of expected morbidity risks occur in the classes with higher GA and BW. The characteristics of the women attending, especially socio-economical level and incidence of high-risk pregnancies, which are specific for each perinatal centre, may account for some of the differences in NM risk for given GA and BW classes.
mesh_terms: D001724:Birth Weight; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007232:Infant, Newborn, Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D009017:Morbidity; D011247:Pregnancy; D012306:Risk