TABLE 2.
Infants not resuscitated, infant mortality and cerebral palsy prevalence as a proportion of the entire live birth population of Nova Scotia in very preterm infants (<31 weeks’ gestational age) according to five-year epoch, 1988 to 2007
| Epoch | P | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| |||||
| 1988–1992 | 1993–1997 | 1998–2002 | 2003–2007 | ||
| Total number of live births in Nova Scotia | 48,841 | 53,860 | 45,770 | 43,006 | |
| Total number of very preterm infants born, n (rate per 10,000 live births) | 319 (65.31) | 418 (77.61) | 348 (76.03) | 345 (80.22) | 0.05 |
| Number of very preterm infants not resuscitated at birth, n (rate per 10,000 live births) | 27 (5.5) | 49 (9.1) | 36 (7.9) | 28 (6.5) | NS |
| Number of very preterm infant deaths, n (rate per 10,000 live births) | 97 (19.9) | 114 (21.2) | 82 (18.0) | 66 (15.4) | 0.19 |
| Total number of very preterm infants surviving at least one year, n (rate per 10,000 live births) | 222 (45.45) | 304 (56.44) | 266 (58.12) | 279 (64.88) | 0.002 |
| Number of very preterm infants with cerebral palsy, n (rate per 10,000 live births) | 27 (5.5) | 23 (4.3) | 42 (9.2) | 16 (3.7) | 0.002 |
Excludes four Cape Breton counties and Cumberland county in the first epoch. NS Not statistically significant