Perinatal mortality in Northern Ireland: where are we now?

Perinatal mortality in Northern Ireland has been declining over the last 30 years, but the factors which may account for this fall have not been clearly delineated. Crude perinatal mortality figures yield very little insight into the problem, and meaningful management statistics are urgently required if service performance is to be reasonably assessed. This paper sets out the case for birth-weight standardisation and explores the utility of a broad diagnostic taxonomy of causes of death.