perinatal, a. Med.
(pɛrɪˈneɪtəl)
[f. peri- + natal a.1 and n.1]
Of or pertaining to the period comprising the latter part of fœtal life and the early postnatal period (commonly taken as ending either one week or four weeks after birth: see quots.).
| 1952 Amer. Jrnl. Publ. Health XLII. 505/2 Such conditions as birth injury, congenital malformation, cerebral palsy, and epilepsy.. may possibly be traceable to perinatal causes. 1958 Economist 22 Feb. 654/2 The phrase perinatal mortality has been coined to describe the combined death rate of babies born dead and those who die in the first week of life. 1966 Ann. Rev. Med. XVII. 213 The perinatal period extends from the completion of embryonic differentiation into recognizable organ structures to the end of the first month of postnatal extra⁓uterine existence. 1973 Where Apr. 102/3 If they smoke after the third month of their pregnancy there is an excess of peri-natal deaths of about 30 per cent. 1976 Lancet 30 Oct. 941/1 The French Government aimed to reduce the burden of handicap caused by conditions arising in the perinatal period (defined as the period from 28th week of gestation to the end of the first week of life). In 1968 40,000 French children who had survived the first year of life were judged to have a handicap of perinatal origin. 1977 Ibid. 25 June 1357/2 The W.H.O. recommendation reads: ‘It is recommended that national perinatal statistics should include all fetuses and infants delivered weighing at least 500 g (or, when birthweight is unavailable, the corresponding gestational age (22 weeks) or body length (25 cm crown-heel)), whether alive or dead. |