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Perinatal Mortality Rate                                                 
                                                                                                    
                                                                                                    
                                                                                                    
Perinatal mortality is the sum of fetal deaths and neonatal deaths.  Since the causes of fetal      
and neonatal deaths are frequently so similar, it is appropriate to think of fetal and neonatal     
deaths as each being manifestations of the same underlying conditions.  Many authorities            
feel that the perinatal mortality rate is preferable to either the fetal or neonatal mortality      
rate.  Therefore, collapsing the two indicators together may lessen errors resulting from           
either deliberate or inadvertent misclassification into one category or the other.                  
                                                                                                    
The Perinatal Mortality Rate is calculated in the same manner as the fetal death rate.  In          
1999, there were 441 (254 fetal and 187 neonatal) perinatal deaths in Arkansas, as well as          
36,672 live births.  The Perinatal Mortality Rate = (441 / (36,672 + 254)) X 1,000 = 11.9           
per 1,000 live births plus fetal deaths.  Nationally, the perinatal mortality rate has been 7.9     
for 1994, 7.6 for 1995, 7.4 for 1996, and 7.3 for 1997.                                             
                                                                                                    
It should come as no surprise, the counties with the highest rates are somewhat scattered           
around the state, although there appears to be one small cluster of three counties in the           
eastern central area of the state.  It would be wise to remember, however, that the county          
rates are based on very small numbers of events, even when using five years of data.                
                                                                                                    
Once again the Southeast Public Health Region had the highest five-year average rate at             
15.0, and the Northwest region had the lowest average rate of 11.2.                                 
                                                                                                    
There are significant racial differences for this indicator.  The perinatal mortality rate for      
Whites for the five-year period from 1995-1999 was 10.7.  For Blacks, it was much higher            
at 19.8.                                                                                            
                                                                                                    
Perinatal mortality reflects a combination of fetal and neonatal mortality; so one would            
expect to find that the 1995-1999 perinatal mortality trends show similar year-to-year              
fluctuations to the neonatal and fetal rates.  However, although the fetal rates show a             
continuing decline from 1996 forward, the neonatal rates have fluctuated, although not              
significantly.                                                                                      
 
 
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