Plasma albumin and total protein in preterm babies from birth to eight weeks.

We have measured albumin and total protein concentrations over the first eight weeks of life in a group of preterm babies. The albumin concentration in newborn babies rose from about 20 g/l in 28 weeks gestation babies to about 30 g/l in term babies. The total protein concentration in newborn babies rose from about 40 g/l in 28 week gestation babies to about 60 g/l in term babies. In babies of postnatal age up to 8 weeks the albumin concentration continues to rise at the same rate as the in utero rise in concentration with increasing gestation, regardless of the clinical state of the baby. The total protein concentration, however, remains about the same as at birth. These results allow better clinical interpretation of albumin and total protein concentration in "older" preterm babies.

Measuring child health inequalities using aggregations of Enumeration Districts.

In demonstrating health variations between different areas in a district, it is conventional to use local authority ward-to-ward variations. In rural districts, because wards have small, heterogeneous populations, this method is less useful. We have investigated alternative ways of showing variations in child health by using different aggregations of Enumeration Districts (ED) in a small, sparsely populated rural area. EDs were aggregated first by a cluster analysis based classification (Super Profiles) and second according to a material deprivation score (the Townsend score). Both methods of aggregation showed similar variations between areas in the proportion of babies with low birthweight, the proportion of teenage mothers, immunization coverage and six-week screening examination coverage. Both methods discriminated better than a straightforward ward-based analysis. Neither method was clearly superior to the other. It is concluded that for both epidemiological research and for health service information purposes, either of these methods of ED aggregation has definite advantages over ward-based analyses in rural areas.