How important is a birthday? Babies born in English hospitals at the weekend have a greater risk of dying than those born at any other time of week, suggests an analysis of 1.35 million births. Further work Is needed to investigate what is causing the difference, say the study authors. On weekdays, there were 6.5 deaths per 1000 deliveries, compared with 7.1 on a weekend day. There would be 770 fewer deaths per year if all babies were born on a Tuesday -the day with the lowest death rate (BMJ. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.h5774). The analysis, carried out by a team at Imperial College London, comes as junior doctors in England voted to strike over changes to their contracts, aimed at increasing the number of weekend staff.
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