Birthweight and infant mortality in Bulgaria's transition crisis.
Between 1988 and 1991, years of political and economic crisis, Bulgaria reported a 25% increase in infant mortality. From 1991 to 1995, the rate then dropped slightly. Analysis of detailed unpublished vital statistics shows that the reported increase could not have been a result of more complete reporting of early neonatal mortality for very low-weight births. Old reporting practices continue unchanged. Rather, these statistics reveal an increase in the proportion of low-weight births, combined with rising death rates, particularly for low-weight births in the postneonatal period, but also for normal-weight babies.
Carlson
E
E
Department of Sociology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, 29208, USA. carlson@sc.edu
Tsvetarsky
S
S
D001724:Birth Weight; D002031:Bulgaria / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011057:Politics; D014798:Vital Statistics