Live birth (human)

Lower live birth is understood in humans, the birth of a living newborn. The child dies shortly before or during birth, it is called a stillbirth.

Definition in Germany

In Germany, the live birth in § 29 (1 ) of the Regulation on the implementation of the Civil Status Act is regulated as follows:

" A live birth, are subject to the general provisions on the display and the registration of births is present, has when in a child after divorce from the womb, either the heart beat or pulsate the umbilical cord or used the natural lung breathing. "

In contrast, it is called a stillbirth, if none of these conditions is met, and of a miscarriage if in addition the weight is less than 500 grams.

Definition in other countries

In Austria live birth is defined in § 8 of the Federal Law on the midwifery profession:

" Live birth: when born alive regardless of the duration of pregnancy a fetus if, after the complete exit from the womb either breathing has used or any other sign of life is visible, such as the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, regardless of whether the umbilical cord has been cut or not, or whether the placenta is expelled or not. "

This corresponds to the definition of the WHO, which suggests this to ICD -10, which was also used before ICD-10.

In slightly different form, this is also used in the U.S. in § 8 of Chapter 1 of the United States Code (USC ).

Effects of different definitions

Of course, the different regulations have no effect on the life skills of the child.

However, the different classification results in some cases serious differences in statements, for example, on infant mortality and child mortality. By narrowing down the term live birth, for example, with the condition that more of the properties are present, they are selected in particular from newborns, who have a high risk of mortality. This will no longer appear in the statistics, and thus lead to lower representation of mortality. Occurred this is, among others, in comparisons of infant mortality between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, as in the GDR had to be met at least two of the features.

Swell

  • Pathology
  • Forensic Medicine
  • Obstetrics and Gynecology
  • Prenatal
  • Perinatal
World Health Organization East Germany
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