title: [A survey of neonatal births in maternity departments in urban China in 2005].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the epidemiology of births in urban China.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective study was conducted on neonates born in 2005 in the maternity departments of 72 urban hospitals from 22 provinces in China.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 45722 infants born between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2005 were enrolled. The male to female sex ratio was 1.13:1. Preterm births accounted for 8.1%. The incidence of very low birth weight infants was 0.7%. A total of 99.7% of mothers delivering at term had conceived naturally and 0.3% had experienced assisted reproduction. A total of 98.4% of mothers who delivered preterm had conceived naturally and 1.6% had experienced assisted reproduction. The proportion of vaginal deliveries was 50.8% compared to 49.2% delivered by cesarean sections. Many cesarean sections (38.1%) were due to social factors. Infants with an Apgar score≤7 at 1 minute accounted for 4.8%, and 1.6% of infants had an Apgar score≤7 at 5 minutes. Of all the infants included in the study, 7.14% were admitted to neonatal units for treatment. The death rate of all included infants was 0.74%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The proportion of preterm births was higher in 2005 than in 2002-2003. The proportion of cesarean section deliveries was much higher in urban China than in most other Asian countries and America.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Shengjing Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, China.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Qing-Hong
authors.initials: QH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hong-Min
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Ke-Lun
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Yu-Jia
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Li-Zhong
authors.initials: LZ
authors.lastname: DU
authors.forename: Yu-Jia
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Yao
mesh_terms: D001238:Asphyxia Neonatorum / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002585:Cesarean Section / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002681:China; D006801:Humans; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D047928:Premature Birth / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors