Infant mortality as a social mirror

Article Abstract:

The infant mortality rate in the US has declined since the 1960s, but large differences in infant mortality still exist between different racial groups. A research study found that among infants born to college-educated parents, the mortality rate was higher among black infants than among white infants. Higher mortality among black infants was caused by higher rates of low and very low birth weight. Social variables used by health researchers to assess racial differences in infant mortality may not fully reflect differences between racial groups in the US. Although parent income and education may be the same, middle-class white families may still have more economic resources than black families. Social differences between races are complex, and are difficult to characterize. An interdisciplinary approach and more communication between medical researchers and health care workers is needed to more fully understand differences in infant mortality between different racial groups.

Social aspects, Editorial, Mortality, Infants, Health, Health and race, Ethnic groups, Mortality and race

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Prolongation of the QT interval and the sudden infant death syndrome

Article Abstract:

A prolonged QT interval on an electrocardiogram may reveal newborn infants who are at risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The electrocardiogram records the electrical activity of the heart. Researchers gave electrocardiograms to 33,034 newborn infants and then followed them for one year. Twenty-four infants died of SIDS and they had a longer QT interval at birth than the infants who did not die of SIDS or who died from other causes. Half of the SIDS infants had prolonged QT interval at birth, which could have caused life-threatening arrhythmias.

Analysis, Complications and side effects, Risk factors, Electrocardiogram, Electrocardiography, Arrhythmia, Sudden infant death syndrome, Arrhythmia in children, Pediatric cardiology

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