Perinatal Mortality in Mexico: Levels and Trends by State and Municipality, 1990 to 2013

Katherine Lofgren, University of Washington
Rafael Lozano, University of Washington

The perinatal mortality rate is a metric which captures both mortality in the first week of life as well as the mortality experienced during the prenatal and intrapartum periods, time periods often omitted from mortality studies. This research aims to estimate recent levels and trends in perinatal mortality within Mexico at both the state and municipality level for the period 1990 to 2013. This research will approach the challenges of estimating the perinatal mortality rate by both creating corrections for the under-registration of deaths during the perinatal period and by applying small-area estimation techniques to calculate the perinatal mortality rate at the sub-national level where direct calculation using registration data may be unreliable. This study will help clarify the current spatial distribution of the mortality burden for the perinatal period in Mexico as well as key states and municipalities where progress has been most noteworthy between 1990 and 2013.