Premature births are blamed for high death rate in UK’s under 5s compared with Sweden

The death rate in preschool children in the United Kingdom is almost twice as high as in Sweden, and the most common causes are complications after premature birth, congenital abnormality, and infection, says a study published online by the Archives of Disease in Childhood.1

The findings raised “important questions” about the delivery of children’s health services in the UK and training in paediatrics among the country’s general practitioners, said the researchers, from the University of Nottingham.

To compare causes of death in under 5s in the two countries over a three year period (2006-08) researchers used data from the UK Office for National Statistics and the Swedish National …