Implementation of the INTERGROWTH-21st Project in China.

The East Asian site in the INTERGROWTH-21(st) Project was Shunyi County, Beijing, China, which is an affluent suburb of north Beijing delivering approximately 7000 women annually. The Newborn Cross-Sectional Study (NCSS) sample was drawn from two hospitals, covering >85% of births in the county. The Fetal Growth Longitudinal Study sample (FGLS) was recruited from the antenatal clinic of Shunyi Maternal & Child Health Hospital, the larger of the two institutions. Special activities to promote the study in this population included: (1) the distribution of health education materials about the importance of antenatal care and (2) the organisation of seminars by the study team to brief key stakeholders at the two hospitals about the goals of the research. One of the major challenges at this site in the early stages of the study was a reluctance to have an early ultrasound dating scan (<14(+0) weeks of gestation). This challenge was overcome after a thorough evaluation of the literature regarding the benefits of an early ultrasound scan for dating purposes, as a result of which there was a formal change in hospital policy.

Epidemiological study on hypothermia in newborns.

A study on the incidence and high risk factors of hypothermia in the newborn was carried out in a period of four months (Nov. 1988-Feb. 1989) in 6 counties of 3 provinces. Totally 14,809 newborns were studied, in whom 100 cases were found to be ill with sclerema, having an incidence of 6.7%. Gestational age, body weight, low room temperature, improper methods of thermopreservation during delivery and asphyxia are determined as the most probable high risk factors, in which gestational age and body weight are negatively correlated with the contraction of the disease. It suggests that the prevention of prematurity and asphyxia, and promotion of thermopreservation during delivery should be helpful in preventing sclerema of newborns.