Geographical disparities in infant mortality in the rural areas of China: a descriptive study, 2010-2018

The infant mortality rate (IMR) is considered a basic measure of public health for countries around the world. The specific aim of our study was to provide an updated description of infant mortality rate among different regions in rural China, and assess the trends and causes of the IMR geographical disparities.

Data were collected from China's Under-5 Child Mortality Surveillance System(U5CMSS). The annual number of deaths and causes of death were adjusted using a 3-year moving average underreporting rate based on annual national data quality control results. The average annual decline rate (AADR) and the relative risk (RR) of the IMR and cause-specific infant mortality were calculated by Poisson regression and the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel method. Data analysis was completed by SAS software.

There was an apparent decrease in infant mortality in rural China from 2010 to 2018, at the AADR of 11.0% (95%CI 9.6-12.4), 11.2% (95%CI 10.3-12.1) and 6.6% (95%CI 6.0-7.3) in the eastern, central and western rural areas, respectively. The IMR was highest in the western rural area, followed by the central and eastern rural areas. Compared with the eastern rural area, the RR of infant mortality in the central rural area remained at 1.4-1.6 and increased from 2.4 (95%CI 2.3-2.6) in 2010-2012 to 3.1 (95% CI 2.9-3.4) in 2016-2018 in the western rural area. Pneumonia, preterm birth /LBW and birth asphyxia were the leading causes of infant deaths in the western rural area. Mortality rates of these three causes fell significantly in 2010-2018 but contributed to a higher proportion of deaths in the western rural area than in the central and western rural ares.

Our study indicated that the infant mortality rate dropped significantly from 2010 to 2018, however, geographical disparities of IMR in rural China are still persist. Therefore, there is an urgent need for public health programmes and policy interventions for infants in western rural China.