Infant deaths in Pudong, Shanghai, China: A Retrospective Study of the Police Data and Comparison with the Centre for Disease Control Data

Abstract

In China, every year many infants (<1 year) are abandoned, but abandonment related deaths are rarely reported. In this study, the police records of infant deaths in Pudong, Shanghai have been explored, then, the police data were compared with the corresponding Centre for Disease Control ('CDC') data. During the period 2004-2017, a total of 297 infant deaths were recorded by the police, including 87 sudden natural deaths (occurred outside hospitals) and 210 unnatural deaths. The CDC data were retrieved from a Chinese article. Joinpoint Trend Analysis was used to evaluate the trend of the police records on infant deaths, and Poisson regression was used to calculate the mortality rate ratio ('RR') by gender and places of origin (local, migrant, unknown identity). It is observed that infants born to migrant mothers were more vulnerable to sudden natural deaths than their local counterparts (RR: 4.6, 95% CI: 2.8 to 8.1). 8 abandonment deaths and 187 suspicious abandonment deaths were spotted. Births to unmarried mothers, severe illnesses, and deformities could be important risk factors resulting in abandonments. However, the female gender was not a reason that led to the abandonments. Infant deaths related to abandonments/suspicious abandonments rapidly declined during the period 2004-2017. The CDC data showed that 27 infants died of unnatural causes during the period 2002-2013, while the police data recorded 182 unnatural infant deaths during the period 2004-2013, a shorter period but more unnatural deaths. Thus, the CDC data could have underreported the infant deaths.