Search

Perinatal and infant death are important indicators of community health. We examined the rate of stillbirth and death before the age of two years among 36,700 children with Norwegian and 2,750 children with Pakistani background. There was no difference in the rate of stillbirth and death during the second year of life, but a 2.5-3 times higher death rate during the first year of life among the Pakistani children, compared with the Norwegian children. When deaths due to single gene disorders and congenital malformations were excluded, the death rate during the first year of life was similar in the two groups. The Pakistani children had an 18 times higher death rate from autosomal recessive disorders and a ten times higher death rate from malformations of the central nervous system. The difference in death rate between the two groups was probably due to the high rate of consanguinity among the Pakistani parents.

The study concerns children born the years 1975-84. Only children in need of hearing aids are taken into account. The incidense was 1.08 per 1,000 live born children. The prevalens in January 1988 was 1.57 per 1,000 children, including 18 children moving into the city. The etiology among 75 children was 47% prenatal, 16% perinatal, 11% postnatal defects and further 26% of unknown neurogenic origin. Among the 63 impaired children living in Oslo 1988 15 or 24% had multiple handicaps. Identification of hearing loss before one year of age increased from 23% for children born 1975/79 to near 60% for children born 1980/84. At risk children should be tested before leaving hospital after delivery.