Child Mortality Patterns in Rural Areas of Anhui and Henan Provinces in China, 1990

County-based IMR and U5MR in Anhui and Henan provinces in China were estimated and analyzed by using the 1990 Census Data. Census was conducted on July 1,1990, the number of deaths only occurred in the first half year of 1990 was collected. In order to obtain the total population and total number of deaths in the same year, the total number of deaths in each eqersex group for the whole 1990 was then estimated by taking the death number in the first half of 1990 as the base and multiplying a coefficient, which varied in different age-sex-region groups. Two major adjustments for some possible underreporting cases in female birth and infant death were made. If the sex ratio at age 0 in some counties was beyond 1. 2, then it was taken as 1. 15 for rural counties and 1.10 for urban cities, which were the estimates of sex ratios for the children at ape 5 in the national 1% Population Sampling Survey in 1995. The adjustment for IMR were made by comparing the segment of the county lift table from age 15 through 59 with that from the same age groups in the international and Chinese Model Life Tables. The IMR in the county life table would be substituted by the one in the closest Model Life Talbe, if it was less than in the latter.The findings of the analysis may be summarized as fol1ows: (i) Total county-based IMR and U5MR were 33. 4 Per 1000 and 41. 4 per 1000 respectively, with great variations between urban cities (25. 4 per 1000 for IMR and 31. 4 per 1 000 for U5MR) and rural counties (35. 1 Per 1000 for IMR and 43. 6 per 1000 for U5MR). There were also sighficant differences in child mortality between nationally identified Poor counties and other counties in rural areas. In the opr counties the total IMR was 40. 7 per 1 000 living births in average while in non-opr counties it was only 33. 2 per 1000 in average (P < 0.05). The U5MR in opr counties was 25 percent higher than in non-opr counties (51. 5 vs 40. 9 Per 1 000 living births).(ii) Statistically significant correlation between child mortality and socio-economic variables was revealed from the data set, among which gross social economic products per capita was found to have the strongest relationship with child mortality. The neqative correlation was found between child mortality and a set of socalled' rich' variables including the gross social products, gr-oss agricultural products, gna industrial products and the proportions of high-educated population at county level, whereas the poSitive correlation was found between child mortality and a set of'poor' variables, such as proportions Of residents with lower 1evel of education and illiteracy rate.(iii) thfferences in child mortality between these two provinces were found, which were identical to the trends of differences in socio-economic indicators between them.tower child mortality proved to be associated with better socio-economic conditions(higher per capita products, higher proPortions of residents with higher level of education, lower proportion of less educated people and illiteracy) in province Henan.

Family identification of China’s mortality patterns and deviation analysis with model life tables

This study identifies China’s mortality pattern families by using data from national and provincial censuses and one-percent sample surveys of China,and then compares them with families in the Coale-Demeny and United Nations model life tables.Based on available data,the findings show there are seven families of mortality patterns in China.Their characteristics differ primarily during adolescence,and young and middle adulthood while resembling during infancy,toddlerhood,childhood and late adulthood or old age.Abnormally higher mortality is seen in females than males during infancy and childhood in three of the seven families of mortality patterns.As for the difference in male and female mortality in old age in the seven families of mortality patterns,it can be ignored.The comparison with the Coale-Demeny and UN model life tables shows the deviations of China’s families of mortality patterns from the families in the two model life tables vary at different mortality levels,with some similarities existing in the deviations at high and low mortality levels,whereas the difference in the deviations at the medium mortality level primarily appears during non-elderly years.The widely used Coale-Demeny West Pattern and the United Nations General Pattern,however,are not applicable to the studies of China’s mortality.Miscalculations commonly happen in the mortality patterns for adolescents,young and middle adults,and elderly people.

Short-Term Efficacy of Treating Hepatitis B Virus-Related Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure Based on Cold Pattern Differentiation with Hot Herbs: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective： To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of Yinchen Zhufu Decoction（茵陈术附汤, YCZFD） in the treatment of acute-on-chronic liver failure caused by hepatitis B virus（HBV-ACLF） with cold pattern in Chinese medicine（CM）. Methods： This is a multi-center randomized controlled trial of integrative treatment of CM and Western medicine（WM） for the management of HBV-ACLF patients. A total of 200 HBV-ACLF patients with cold pattern were equally randomly assigned to receive YCZFD and WM（integrative treatment） or WM conventional therapy alone respectively for 4 weeks. The primary end point was the mortality for HBV-ACLF patients. Secondary outcome measures included Model for End-Stage Liver disease（MELD） score, liver biochemical function, coagulation function and complications. Adverse events during treatment were reported. Results： The mortality was decreased 14.28% in the integrative treatment group compared with WM group（χ^2=6.156, P=0.013）. The integrative treatment was found to significantly improve the MELD score（t=2.353, P=0.020）. There were statistically significant differences in aspartate transaminase, total bilirubin, indirect bilirubin, direct bilirubin and prothrombin time between the two groups（P〈0.05 or P〈0.01）. The complications of ascites（χ^2=9.033, P=0.003） and spontaneous bacteria peritonitis（χ^2=4.194, P=0.041） were improved significantly in the integrative treatment group. No serious adverse event was reported. Conclusions： The integrative treatment of CM and WM was effective and safe for HBV-ACLF patients with cold pattern in CM. The Chinese therapeutic principle ＂treating cold pattern with hot herbs＂ remains valuable to the clinical therapy.（Trial registration No. Chi CTR-TRC-10000766）