Objective. To study the association of biological and social risk factors with perinatal mortality in an ethnically mixed population in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Design. Matched case control study. Setting. Academic Medical Centre and Municipal Health Service, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Methods. Cases included all registered stillborn infants and all registered liveborn infants who died within seven days of birth, during 1975-1980 (n = 666). Controls were selected from the liveborn survivors whose births were reported immediately before or after the deceased children (n = 1332). Results. Perinatal mortality was independently associated with unfavourable parental employment status, high or low maternal age and high parity (≥ 4) of the mother and male infant sex, but not with parental country of birth: the adjusted odds ratio for children with an unemployed father was 1.72 (95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.25-2.37) and for children with a Surinam/Antillian mother 1.05 (95% CI: 0.72-1.54). Conclusion. Future studies on selected behavioural and socio-economic factors are needed for better understanding of the causes of increased perinatal mortality among families in which the parents are unemployed.

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controlled study ethnic group Netherlands human sex difference risk factor unemployment parity newborn Maternal Age Article perinatal mortality major clinical study