Osteogenesis Imperfecta in Sweden. Clinical, Genetic, Epidemiological and Socio-Medical Aspects

throughout pregnancy. The outlook for the newborn child of a diabetic mother is largely determined by prenatal factors, and doctors must begin to think about its welfare long before it is born. The author shows that many disorders, such as hypocalcaemia, hyperbilirubinaemia, retention of fluid and sodium, and pulmonary hyaline membrane, are not directly associated with maternal diabetes but are largely attributable to immaturity. In consequence the most effective way of reducing infant morbidity and mortality is to deliver the mothers as late as possible, while good medical and obstetric care reduces considerably the risk of intrauterine foetal death. The chapter on the care of the newborn contains nothing that will be new to paediatricians in this country, but the problems are clearly set out and discussed. The English is lucid and the text well printed and bound. As a presentation of a complex and still rather empirical subject, this book, with its excellent bibliography, is well worth the attention of paediatricians; but one cannot help wondering why, with 84 pages of text, it should cost 54 shillings.