While mortality outcomes are an important indicator of a nation's health, neonatal mortality in developed countries has become increasingly rare. Small area estimates needed for smaller counties or ZIP codes are unstable. Additional measures of infant morbidity might be useful to complement mortality rates in these situations.

The California County Profile Reports include two additional measures for assessing infant health: 1) the percent of non-normal newborns and 2) the percent of newborns with a hospital stay exceeding 5 days after birth.

Definitions

This information is derived from the California Patient Discharge Data (PDD) published by the California Office of Statewide Planning and Development (OSHPD). Diagnosis related groups (DRG) are case mix assignments grouping hospital patients to categories based on diagnostic, therapeutic, and demographic characteristics for the purpose of reimbursement. Each newborn is assigned to one of seven DRG codes:

DRG	Description
385	Died/Transferred
386	Extreme Immaturity/Respiratory Distress Syndrome
387	Prematurity with Major Problems
388	Prematurity without Major Problems
389	Full Term Neonate with Major Problems
390	Full Term Neonate with Significant Problems
391	Normal Newborn

For the California County Profile Reports, all newborns that died/transferred, were born prematurely, or were born full term but with major or significant problems were included in the group of non-normal newborns.

A long length of stay is defined as a hospital stay after birth that exceeded 5 days. Note that only infants who were home discharged are included in the reference at risk population.

Tables and Figures

Number and Percent of Non-Normal Newborns by Race/Ethnicity, California and Kern County, 2007

Race/Ethnicity	Kern County			California
Race/Ethnicity	N	All Births	%	N	All Births	%
Hispanic	1,518	9,358	16.2	64,418	290,513	22.2
Non-Hispanic White	765	4,056	18.9	38,514	143,153	26.9
Non-Hispanic Black	152	730	20.8	8,158	28,180	28.9
Non-Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islander	75	443	16.9	15,911	67,115	23.7
Non-Hispanic Other Race	84	337	24.9	5,213	18,546	28.1
Overall	2,594	14,924	17.4	132,214	547,507	24.1

Births with unknown values are not included
Categories with less than 10 live births are grayed
Source: CDPH and California OSHPD

Percent of Non-Normal Newborns, Kern County, 2005-2007

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Source: California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and California OSHPD

Percent of Non-Normal Newborns, California and Kern County, 2005-2007

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Source: California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and California OSHPD

Number and Percent of Newborns with Hospital Stay Longer than 5 Days Until Home Discharge by Race/Ethnicity, California and Kern County, 2007

Race/Ethnicity	Kern County			California
Race/Ethnicity	N	All Births	%	N	All Births	%
Hispanic	590	9,269	6.4	17,462	286,685	6.1
Non-Hispanic White	237	4,114	5.8	8,441	141,214	6.0
Non-Hispanic Black	46	727	6.3	1,716	27,915	6.1
Non-Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islander	27	440	6.1	3,905	66,273	5.9
Non-Hispanic Other Race	14	337	4.2	1,085	18,190	6.0
Overall	914	14,887	6.1	32,609	540,277	6.0

Births with unknown values are not included
Categories with less than 10 live births are grayed
Source: CDPH and California OSHPD

Percent of Newborns with Hospital Stay Longer than 5 Days Until Home Discharge, Kern County, 2005-2007

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Source: California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and California OSHPD

Percent of Newborns with Hospital Stay Longer than 5 Days Until Home Discharge, California and Kern County, 2005-2007

Download as PDF

Source: California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and California OSHPD

Sponsored by the CDPH Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health Program

IPODR - California County Profile Report