CHILD MORTALITY IN THE ROSTOV REGION

Objective. To study mortality rates in the pediatric population (aged 0-19 years) of the Rostov Region in 2004-2013. Materials and methods. The 2004-2013 official reports of the Rostov Statistics Office were retrospectively analyzed. The pediatric population’s age structure was determined in accordance with the European standard of the age structure (less than 1, 1-4, 10-14, and 15-19 years). Results. The leading causes of death in the pediatric population aged 0-19 years in 2013 were some perinatal conditions (28.9%), external causes (20.9%), congenital malformations and chromosomal abnormalities (16.9%), and other circumstances of death (9%), and infectious and parasitic diseases (8.1%). There was a preponderance of external causes of death, their proportion increased in the structure of overall mortality rates. By 2013 vs 2004, the all-cause mortality among 0-19-year olds decreased by 23% (from 120,659 to 92,964 per 100,000 population of the same age) with the highest rates (50.9%) in the class of Injuries, poisonings, and other consequences of external causes. Mortality rates at the above age were attributed mainly to the deaths of children aged less than 1 year and those aged 15-19 years. The rise in mortality rates for infectious and parasitic diseases in the persons aged 0-19 years in 2012-2013 as compared with their steady decline in 2004-2011 was due to higher death rates in the infants less than 1 year of age and due to septicemia. Conclusion. To work in these identified areas requires that health workers should make every effort to decline deaths among children.

children, mortality, causes of death, public health, mortality rates from infectious and parasitic diseases