title: Cause of death among infants in rural western China: a community-based study using verbal autopsy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the causes of death among infants in high-mortality areas of western China with the use of globally recognized methods.
  
  
  METHODS
  A survey of all infant deaths identified over 1 year in 4 counties in Yunnan and Xinjiang in which combined verbal autopsy was combined with a physician's diagnosis of the cause to calculate the local infant mortality rate.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among 470 completed investigations, a cause of death was assigned to 423 cases (90%). Overall, pneumonia (34.5%), preterm birth complications (16.5%), diarrhea (10.4%), birth asphyxia (10.3%), and congenital abnormalities (8.5%) were the main causes, with 56.6% of deaths occurring in the neonatal period. Deaths were attributable predominantly to prematurity or birth asphyxia in the early neonatal period, whereas infection accounted for more than 60% and 80% of deaths in the late and postneonatal periods, respectively. Calculated infant mortality was 21.9 in 1000 live births.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The pattern of infant mortality observed in the surveyed counties differs markedly from that reported previously at the national level, with a high proportion the result of causes that may be preventable with globally recommended interventions. Financial and political support is needed to promote improved cause of death surveillance and newborn and infant health care in China's western region.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Health Care, National Center for Women and Children's Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: United Nations Children's Fund, China Country Office, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Sufang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Health Care, National Center for Women and Children's Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China. Electronic address: wanghuishan@chinawch.org.cn.
authors.forename: Huishan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Health Care, National Center for Women and Children's Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Health Care, National Center for Women and Children's Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xiaona
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: United Nations Children's Fund, China Country Office, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Chenyue
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Health Care, National Center for Women and Children's Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: United Nations Children's Fund, China Country Office, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Robert W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Scherpbier
authors.affiliation: United Nations Children's Fund, China Country Office, Beijing, China; United Nations Children's Fund, New York, NY.
authors.forename: David B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Hipgrave
mesh_terms: D001344:Autopsy / Q000379:methods; D002423:Cause of Death; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012424:Rural Population