asked the Minister for Health the number of infants born mentally handicapped in each maternity unit in the country in each of the past five years; and if he will express these figures as a percentage of the number of live births at that unit in each year, the equivalent national figures and the available figures from other EEC countries for the same period.
Written Answers . - Birth Statistics .
364.
: Because mental handicap may not be diagnosed until some time after birth, information on the number of infants born mentally handicapped in individual maternity units is not available.
From a census of mentally handicapped persons in the state carried out in 1974 it has been estimated that approximately one half of one per cent of all infants born in a year are moderately, severely or profoundly mentally handicapped. Similar rates have been observed in studies which have been carried out in Northern Ireland, in England and in Holland.
365.
asked the Minister for Health the number of still-born infants and the number of mothers who died during maternity in-patient stays at each maternity unit in the country in each of the past five years; if he will express these figures as a percentage of the number of live births and the number of maternity patients at that unit in that year; the equivalent national figures and the available figures for other EEC countries for the same period.
: The number of still born infants and the percentage it represents of live births is given for Ireland and other EEC countries for the five years 1974-1978 in Table 1. The latest year for which information is available for Ireland is 1977. While these figures are also available for some individual maternity units, they are not at present available for every unit.
Table 1
|
1978 |
1977 |
1976 |
1975 |
1974 |
||||||
|
Country |
No. |
% |
No. |
% |
No. |
% |
No. |
% |
No. |
% |
|
Ireland |
N.A. |
N.A. |
757 |
1.11 |
765 |
1.13 |
774 |
1.15 |
867 |
1.26 |
|
Belgium |
967 |
0.78 |
1,029 |
0.84 |
1,088 |
0.89 |
1,227 |
1.02 |
1,276 |
1.03 |
|
Denmark |
364 |
0.58 |
369 |
0.59 |
431 |
0.66 |
483 |
0.67 |
441 |
0.61 |
|
France |
N.A. |
N.A. |
7,445 |
0.99 |
7,522 |
1.04 |
8,225 |
1.10 |
9,358 |
1.16 |
|
German Fed. Rep |
3,650 |
0.63 |
3,794 |
0.65 |
4,444 |
0.73 |
4,689 |
0.78 |
5,387 |
0.86 |
|
Italy |
6,350 |
0.89 |
7,219 |
0.97 |
8,345 |
1.06 |
9,271 |
1.12 |
10,691 |
1.23 |
|
Luxembourg |
28 |
0.68 |
20 |
0.49 |
35 |
0.89 |
29 |
0.72 |
35 |
0.89 |
|
Netherlands |
1,259 |
0.71 |
1,317 |
0.75 |
1,436 |
0.81 |
1,373 |
0.77 |
1,651 |
0.88 |
|
UK |
5,900 |
0.85 |
6,300 |
0.95 |
6,600 |
0.97 |
7,400 |
1.06 |
8,400 |
1.13 |
N.A. = not available.
Source: Demographic Statistics 1978, Eurostat 1980.
The number of mothers who died during maternity in-patient stay in maternity units is not known. National information on maternal mortality, which includes death due to complications of pregnancy irrespective of place of death, is available. The number of maternal deaths, together with the percentage it represents of live births, for each of the last five years is given for Ireland in Table 2. Comparative figures for other EEC countries are given for the latest available year in Table 3.
Table 2
Maternal mortality in Ireland
|
Year |
1979 |
1978 |
1977 |
1976 |
1975 |
|
number |
10 |
10 |
7 |
11 |
5 |
|
per cent of live births |
0.014 |
0.014 |
0.010 |
0.016 |
0.007 |
Table 3
Maternal mortality in EEC countries other than Ireland
|
Country |
Year |
Per cent of births |
|
Belgium |
1976 |
0.006 |
|
Denmark |
1976 |
0.003 |
|
France |
1974 |
0.017 |
|
Germany |
1976 |
0.036 |
|
Italy |
1974 |
0.030 |
|
Luxembourg |
n.a. |
|
|
Netherlands |
1976 |
0.005 |
|
United Kingdom |
1976 |
0.013 |
n.a. = not available
Source: Social indicators for the European Community 1960-1978, Eurostat 1980.