[Analysis of trends in infant mortality with special reference to perinatal mortality in Austria (1965-1991)]

In Austria a marked decrease of perinatal mortality has been observed since the middle of the 1970s (Fig. 1). Regression models show a significant association with introduction of the mother-and-child health passport in 1974 and decreasing fertility of women older than 35 years. In part this decrease is due to a transfer of deaths from the perinatal period to later periods (Fig. 3). Some perinatal deaths were shifted to the periods of 2nd to 4th week and 2nd to 12th month after birth, respectively. From the difference between expected and observed perinatal mortality a saving of 13,400 perinatal deaths since 1974 has been calculated. Some of these children were in fact saved from death, whereas some of them died during a later period of the first year of life.