Babies die more in France, and particularly in Ile-de-France

REGRESSION Nearly four out of a thousand children in the Ile-de-France die before celebrating their first birthday, and this figure has been increasing since 2012

A baby (illustration) — M.LIBERT

• Between 2000 and 2020, more than 13,000 children under the age of one died, almost half of them in the first week of life.
• Infant mortality has increased everywhere in France, but particularly in Ile-de- France, according to a study by the Regional Health Observatory.
• The increase in the age of women at first childbirth, diabetes and precariousness are among the factors that explain this local increase, but the causes remain to be explored scientifically, researchers explain to 20 Minutes .

It’s a sad statement of regression. Over the past ten years, mortality infant increased in France, and particularly in Ile-de-France. This is increasing everywhere but “the increase in this rate seems more marked in Ile-de-France than at the national level,” ;ORS, in a study published in June. Concretely, the mortality rate mean infant (TMI) is estimated to 3.95 deaths per 1,000 live births over the past 19 years in Ile-de-France compared to 3.63 per thousand in metropolitan France.

The situation is certainly not the same according to the territories, which have their own history. Seine-Saint-Denis is experiencing a mortality rate. much higher (around 5 per thousand) than all the other departments, while Hauts-de-Seine and Seine-et-Marne saw no increase.

France has regressed; from the 5th to the 18th place

In total, in Ile-de-France, between 2000 and 2020, more than 13,400 deaths were caused. recorded in children under one year of age, nearly half of whom (47.8%) in the first week of life. And it’s particularly in this age bracket there, that we call mortality. early neonatal birth, which has seen the greatest increase (on average, 2.52% per year). “Ile-de-France has the highest mortality rate. of the country's 0-6 days since 2012,” writes the ORS. Children aged 7 to 12 27 days also die very slightly more, but in a less significant way, while the mortality so-called post-neonatal (28-365 days) recedes.

This alarm signal is all the more worrying as the mortality childbirth continues to decline in most other European countries, according to data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). While France was in 5th position among OECD countries in this area, it has fallen back. gradually, to be now in 18th place.

Poverty; and junk food increase

The explanations for this increase are multiple. First, there are economic and societal factors, such as the increase in diabetes, obesity and obesity. maternal, related to junk food. But also the increase in poverty, which leads to a greater number of people living in poverty. take less care of them, and of their pregnancy. “The least we can say is that “it’s not improving on the field of precariousness” loose to the touch 20 Minutes Maylis Telle-Lamberton, epidemiologist at the ORS. Its observatory has published a vast regional diagnosis of health; of Ile-de-France residents, which shows a tendency to the increase in obesity; massive.

Women also give birth to their first child later and later, particularly in Ile-de-France. “Health The perinatal period is marked by an increase in the age of women at first childbirth, morbidity and pregnancy (gestational diabetes and hypertension) as well as the percentage of people covered by state medical aid. These increases are probably partly responsible for health indicators. perinatal conditions more unfavorable in Ile-de-France than elsewhere” writes the ORS in its diagnosis.

Assumptions worth investigating< /h2>

Finally, other factors more related to the evolution of the health system, pressurized, or of medicine come into account, such as the progress of neonatal resuscitation, which could “encourage resuscitation. animations of very fragile and non-viable newborns, “which can artificially increase mortality. early neonatal,” says the ORS. “At one point we wondered; if children who had birth defects were not allowed to be born, so that they could have funerals, which is not possible if they are declared dead before” , explains Professor Martin Chalumeau, pediatrician at Necker Hospital, researcher at; Inserm and co-author of a remarkable study on the subject of mortality. last year, which is the starting point for the ORS study.

But all these explanations are only hypotheses, which deserve to be discussed. be dug in depth, believes the professor, who judges that “France does not give itself the means to explore the origin of this mortality”. He pleads for more data on death certificates: “We have sex, date of birth and date of death but we don’t know the origin g graphic, if the mother is a migrant, if she has pathologies during pregnancy, the level of income, the level of education, if there was a serious congenital malformation… ” An evolution of the neonatal death certificate must soon be the subject of a decree.