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Samuel Sepkowitz, MD
Oklahoma City

JAMA. 1985;254(19):2736-2737.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

Buehler et al¹ in their article on infant survival in Georgia state that "recent declines in neonatal mortality in the United States have been largely attributed to lower mortality among low-birth-weight infants." Such is not the case in Georgia, based on the information supplied by the authors.

Although neonatal mortality declined from 12 per 1,000 live births in 1974-1975 to 8.1 per 1,000 live births in 1980-1981, the percentage of low-birth-weight deaths remained the same (77.3% vs 77.5%). These similar proportions suggest diverse sources of causation for the decline or a generalized one operating in both weight groups; it argues against the greater utilization of neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) as a single cause of the decline in neonatal mortality.

The interpretation of weight-specific neonatal mortality declines is a specious one. Demonstrating an increased utilization of NICU care over time hardly justifies the statement that improved . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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