Cause of Death According to Postnatal Age
From 2000 through 2011, deaths among infants
who died within 12 hours after birth were most
commonly attributed to immaturity (Fig. 1, and
Table S6 in the Supplementary Appendix). For infants
surviving longer than 12 hours, deaths were
most commonly attributed to the respiratory distress
syndrome; this condition was considered
to underlie 49.5% of deaths in the first 14 days
and 42.8% of deaths in the first month of life.
From 15 to 60 postnatal days, necrotizing enterocolitis
was the most common cause of death;
after 60 days, bronchopulmonary dysplasia became
the predominant cause of death.