PROFILES
Calculator: Neonatal and Postneonatal Infant Deaths Attributable to Low Birthweight
Alderman and Behrman (2004) cite estimates by Ashworth (1998) that
term infants weighing 2000-2499 grams at birth have a risk of neonatal and postneonatal
infant death that is four and two times, greater respectively, compared with infants
weighing 2500-2999 grams. Given the actual LBW prevalence and neonatal and postneonatal
mortality rates in Ashworth's sample, Alderman and Behrman derive a risk difference
for infant mortality (either neonatal or postneonatal) of 0.078 if an infant is
born LBW. Rather than use this derived risk difference, which assumes a particular
LBW prevalence and a particular level and age distribution of infant mortality,
we use Ashworth's relative risks together with country-specific rate of LBW to
calculate the population's attributable risk of neonatal and postneonatal infant
mortality due to LBW. These are then applied to the country-specific levels of
neonatal and postneonatal infant mortality to calculate the excess deaths due
to low birth weight. 
Download Excel Spreadsheet 
Download Instructions
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Instructions: Boxes in yellow should be filled in by the user. Click
on the box and enter data for the country of your choice. Then click the 'Get
Results' button to see the results in the boxes shaded in blue. The assumptions
can be changed by the user if the default values are deemed inaccurate. |
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| Inputs |
| 1. Prevalence of Low Birth Weight (%) | |
| 2. Births per year | |
| 3. Neonatal mortality rate (deaths <1 month/1000 live births)
| |
| 4. Infant mortality rate (deaths <1 year/1000 live births)
| |
| | |
| Assumptions
|
| 1. Relative risk of neonatal death of
LBW v non-LBW infants | |
| 2. Relative risk of post-neonatal infant death of LBW v non-LBW
infants | |
| | |
| Intermediate
results |
| 1. Neonatal deaths per year | |
| 2. Infant
deaths per year | |
| 3. Percentage
of neonatal deaths attributable to LBW | |
| 4. Percentage
of postneonatal infant deaths attributable to LBW | |
| |
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| Results
|
| 1. Number of neonatal deaths attributable
to LBW | |
| 2. Number
of postneonatal infant deaths attributable to LBW | |
| 3. Number
of infant deaths attributable to LBW | |
| 4. Percentage
of infant deaths attributable to LBW | |
References
Alderman H, Behrman JR. Estimated economic benefits of reducing Low Birth Weight
in Low-Income Countries. Health, Nutrition and Population (HNP) Discussion Paper.
Washington, DC: The World Bank, 2004. Ashworth
A. Effects of intrauterine growth retardation on mortality and morbidity in infants
and young children. As presented at the 1996 IDECG Workshop in Baton Rouge and
edited by the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition Volume 52, Supplement 1,
January 1998
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