PERINATAL-MORTALITY AND LOW-BIRTH-WEIGHT BY SOCIOECONOMIC BACKGROUND - EVIDENCE FOR IRELAND

Newly-available data from the perinatal reporting system are used to e xamine the variation across socio-economic groups in perinatal mortali ty and low birthweight rates in Ireland. The results show significant effects of socio-economic background, mother's age and parity (number of previous births) on both perinatal mortality and low birthweight. T he risk of perinatal mortality is highest where the father is an unski lled manual worker or unemployed, and this effect is most pronounced w here the mother is aged 35 or more. Low birthweight is most prevalent for mothers from that socio-economic background aged under 20.