Southwest Washington labor press. [volume] (Hoquiam, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1925-05-15
STUDY MADE OF BABY
DEATHS IS THOROUGH

Twenty-three thousand babies born
in 8 American cities, studied through
their first year as the infant survived,
furnished the data for a comprehen-
sive analysis of infant mortality in
this country made public today by
the Children's Bureau of the U. S.
Department of Labor.
Expected to form the basis for fur
Their effort to reduce infant mortality
in the United States, and especially
the mortality during the first month
of life, this report is considered one
of the most important yet issued by
the Children's Bureau. Latest fig
ures, it is pointed out, indicate that
there are annually $4,000 deaths
under year of age in the United
States, $4,000 of them occurring dur
ing the first month.
The eight cities studied, in each of
which bureau investigators working
in cooperation with local health au-
thorities visited each mother to whom
baby was born during the year pre-
vious to the study, are: Johnstown,
Pa; Manchester, N. H.; Brockton,
Mass; Saginaw, Mich; New Bedford,
Mass; Waterbury, Conn; Akron,
Ohio; and Baltimore, Md. The data
obtained from the cities is consoli-
dated in this new report, which is the
work of DIR. Robert Morse Woodbury.,
formerly Director of Statistical Re-
search for the Children's Bureau.
DR.. Woodbury., IN the Introductory
summary of the report, emphasizing
the Importance of a thorough know
ledge of the causes of infant mortal
ity, states:
"A thorough knowledge of the
causes of infant mortality is the first
step toward their complete control.
In the light of such knowledge pre-
ventive measures may be intelligent
ly planned to produce a maximum of
result. These measures may be to
prevent the spread of specific infec-
tious diseases-for example, vaccina-
ton for smallpox, the Schick test and
toxin-antitoxin immunization against
diphtheria, disinfection of the eyes
to prevent ophthalmia neonatorum,
or the practice of surgical cleanliness
to prevent tetanus and other infec-
lions Immediately following birth.
They may be directed toward the
control of gastric and intestinal dis
eases, to effect which involves not
simply the prevention of infection
but the incubation of right principles
Of infant feeding. Again, they may
be directed toward the control of the
mortality of early infancy, the main
causes of which lie in the care and
condition of the mother during preg-
nancy and childbirth.
"The pathological causes of infant
deaths must be reported on death
certificates by the physicians in at
tendance. But the analysis of infant
mortality, if it is to be thorough,
must be carried beyond the pathology
zeal cause to antecedent and predis-
posing causes and casual factors.
Differences in Unborn vigor or vital
| ity may account in part for differen-
ces in the rates for the different
races, even as they may account for
differences in the rates for male and
female infants or for twins and trip
lets and single-born infants. The
prejudices and traditions of certain
race groups have their influence upon
the infant mortality rates for these
races, as, for example, the custom of
mothers of Portuguese extraction Of
giving 'sopa,' a dish prepared from
softened crackers, to babies a few
hours old, or the preference of Ital-
ian women to be attended at confine-
ment by midwiyes and their custom
OF wrapping their 'bambinos' in
swaddling clothes. The influence of
type of feeding and other elements
of infant care demand careful ocn-
sideration in the study of causes of
infant mortality"
DR.. Woodbury's analysis of the
causal factors in the infant mortality
among the $4,000 babies studied in
dicates the following main facts;
; 1. Causes peculiar to early infan-
/ y (related to prenatal and natal con-
ditions) were first in Importance and
responsible for nearly one-third of the
deaths under one year, the rate from
these causes being 1851. Gastric and
intestinal diseases gave a rate Of ga;
respiratory diseases 1876; epidemic