British Asian babies have a 60% increased risk of neonatal mortality compared to white babies
Bliss, the UK’s leading charity for babies premature or sick, is calling for renewed action to tackle high rates of neonatal mortality as new figures released in Baby Loss Awareness Week show Asian and Black babies and women living in the most deprived areas of the country continue to be at substantially increased risk of neonatal mortality.
The latest MBRRACE-UK Perinatal Mortality Surveillance Report examining perinatal deaths from 2019 has found that, while the overall rate of neonatal mortality has fallen by 12% since 2015, rates remain staggeringly high for Asian and Black babies.
Findings from the report show:
- Women living in the most deprived areas had a 73% higher risk of neonatal death compared to women living in the least deprived areas, and that this excess risk had increased between 2015 and 2019.
- Asian and Asian British babies had a 60% increased risk of neonatal mortality compared to white babies.
- Black and Black British Babies had a 43% increased risk of neonatal mortality compared to white babies.
- Just under half of all neonatal deaths in 2019 were of babies born extremely premature (before 28 weeks of pregnancy)
- There is wide variation in the rates of neonatal mortality among Trusts, Health Boards and NICUs, with only 15% of Trusts and Health Boards having a neonatal mortality rate within 5% of their comparator group – even when rates had been stabilised, adjusted and deaths due to congenital mortality excluded.
Caroline Lee-Davey, Chief Executive of Bliss, said: “It is deeply shocking that today’s report shows a continued higher risk of neonatal mortality among babies born in the most deprived areas, as well as among babies from certain ethnic minority groups – and even more so that the difference in the risk of death between those living in the most deprived areas and those in the least has actually increased between 2015 and 2019. It is shameful that in the UK babies are more likely to die depending on their ethnicity or where their parents live, and it is vital that these ongoing health inequalities are addressed as a matter of urgency.
“While it is positive to see further reductions in the overall neonatal mortality rate, today’s report highlights how much more needs to be done if the National Ambition of halving neonatal deaths in England is to be achieved by 2025. Further research must be undertaken to develop interventions which work to reduce the neonatal death rate equitably – and this must include working closely with families. Behind every statistic in this report is a baby who has died and a family who has endured this unimaginable loss, and our hearts go out to them”.
Data from the ONS released in May this year showed that infant mortality rates are particularly high in the northwest of England and the West Midlands, where there is a substantial BAME population, with social deprivation identified as a key factor.
