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Midnight's children
Babies born in the hours before dawn seem to face a greater risk of death, California researchers have concluded after a seven-year study. Their analysis covered more than 3.3 million infants born without lethal congenital abnormalities.
The study, published in Obstetrics and Gynecology, divided the day into daytime (7 a.m. to 7 p.m.), early night (7 p.m. to 1 a.m.), and late night (1 a.m. to 7 a.m.). Most babies — 56.7 percent — were born during the daytime.
Compared with them, babies born during the early night had a 12 percent higher rate of neonatal death and babies born during the late-night period had a 16 percent higher rate. Why this difference exists is a puzzle. The authors point out that similar differences have been found in European studies, but the reasons are still unknown. They speculate that nighttime fatigue may be a cause, but their data provide no evidence for such an effect.Dr. Gilberto Chavez, an epidemiologist with the California Department of Health Services and a co-author of the study, said the researchers hoped that hospitals would take the patterns into account "as they try to improve the care that they provide."
The New York Times
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