title: Neonatal cause-of-death estimates for the early and late neonatal periods for 194 countries: 2000-2013.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate cause-of-death distributions in the early (0-6 days of age) and late (7-27 days of age) neonatal periods, for 194 countries between 2000 and 2013.
  
  
  METHODS
  For 65 countries with high-quality vital registration, we used each country's observed early and late neonatal proportional cause distributions. For the remaining 129 countries, we used multinomial logistic models to estimate these distributions. For countries with low child mortality we used vital registration data as inputs and for countries with high child mortality we used neonatal cause-of-death distribution data from studies in similar settings. We applied cause-specific proportions to neonatal death estimates from the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, by country and year, to estimate cause-specific risks and numbers of deaths.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over time, neonatal deaths decreased for most causes. Of the 2.8 million neonatal deaths in 2013, 0.99 million deaths (uncertainty range: 0.70-1.31) were estimated to be caused by preterm birth complications, 0.64 million (uncertainty range: 0.46-0.84) by intrapartum complications and 0.43 million (uncertainty range: 0.22-0.66) by sepsis and other severe infections. Preterm birth (40.8%) and intrapartum complications (27.0%) accounted for most early neonatal deaths while infections caused nearly half of late neonatal deaths. Preterm birth complications were the leading cause of death in all regions of the world.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The neonatal cause-of-death distribution differs between the early and late periods and varies with neonatal mortality rate level. To reduce neonatal deaths, effective interventions to address these causes must be incorporated into policy decisions.
authors.affiliation: MARCH, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London, WC1N 7HT, England .
authors.forename: Shefali
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Oza
authors.affiliation: MARCH, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London, WC1N 7HT, England .
authors.forename: Joy E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Lawn
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Statistics and Information Systems, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland .
authors.forename: Daniel R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Hogan
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Statistics and Information Systems, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland .
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mathers
authors.affiliation: MARCH, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London, WC1N 7HT, England .
authors.forename: Simon N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Cousens
mesh_terms: D002423:Cause of Death; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D047928:Premature Birth / Q000453:epidemiology