Perinatal mortality and low birthweight by socio-economic background: evidence for Ireland

Abstract

Newly-available data from the perinatal reporting system are used to examine the variation across socio-economic groups in perinatal mortality and low birthweight rates in Ireland. The results show significant effects of socio-economic background, mother's age and parity (number of previous births) on both perinatal mortality and low birthweight. The risk of perinatal mortality is highest where the father is an unskilled manual worker or unemployed, and this effect is most pronounced where the mother is aged 35 or more. Low birthweight is most prevalent for mothers from that socio economic background aged under 20.