2. You are interested in the causal impact that treatment in the Neonatal Intens
ID: 127629 • Letter: 2
Question
2. You are interested in the causal impact that treatment in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) on infant mortality. 2a. Explain why it is problematic to compare infant mortality of newborns who went to the NICU to newborns who did not go to the NICU 2b. You know that doctors usually admit newborns who weigh 5.5 pounds or less to the NICU To estimate the causal impact of the NICU on infant mortality, you will use the RD framework where mortality is the outcome, birth weight is the running variable, and 5.5 pounds is the cutoff. Write down a regression equation(s) that could be used to estimate the effect. You can use either the two-limit approach or the combined approach, but either way you should describe how to get your estimate of the causal effect of NICU on infant mortality.Explanation / Answer
2. The infant mortality is a complex which includes socio-economic, biological, and demographic variables are taken into account. In developing countries, the socio-economic variables influence the biological variables which determine the infant mortality rate. In developed countries, mainly focus on neonatal mortality than the infant mortality because of the neonatal mortality influences on infant mortality.
2a. Newborn babies with the critical medical condition are admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. These newborns may be a preterm, a low birth weight, congenital abnormalities or other serious medical conditions such as infectious disease or respiratory distress syndrome. The advanced technology and trained medical professionals in the NICU provide specialized care in life-threatening conditions.
The neonatal mortality is due to an unpreventable cause such as congenital abnormalities, asphyxia, prematurity and difficulty in labor. Whereas the Infant mortality is due to insufficient access to care of newborns, maternal health conditions, and other complications.
The problematic to find the comparison between the infant mortality on the newborn who went to NICU to those who did not go to NICU is because the needed data of infant who admitted to NICU is difficult to detect. Most of the infant mortality data were found based on the low birth weights, very low birth weight, preterm infants etc. Further, the infant mortality is calculated based on infant age and the cause of death. Some studies have revealed the casual impact of mortality of infants who admitted to NICU but the results vary in countries and are unpredictable.
2b. The Regression Equation:
A line in a two- dimensional variable is defined by the equation Y=a+b*x.
where y is the variable.
a is constant (5.5 is the cutoff birth weight).
b is times of X variable.
The outcome variable is also called as the dependent variable and the risk factors are also called as the independent variable. In regression equation, the dependent variable is denoted by Y and the independent variable by X.
Y = infant Mortality rate.
X = Birth weight.
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