Study highlights the effect of birth weight and gestation on child mortality

A study published by The Lancet which compares child mortality in England and Sweden - two high-income countries with similar levels of economic development and universal healthcare - seeks to understand factors driving higher rates of child mortality in England.

Deaths in children under five years old occur one and a half times more often in England than in Sweden, according to an inter-country comparison of child mortality including more than 3.9 million English births and one million Swedish births.

According to the study the difference is largely due to children in England typically weighing less at birts, being born earlier, and having more birth anomalies (such as congenital heart defects) than in Sweden.

The study can be accessed here.