Is this correct reasoning?

[BlessedMommy2006]

If the death rate for circ is 1 in 6,000 and 4 million babies are born in the U.S. per year, 1/2 of which are boys and 1/2 of which are circumcised, then that means that out of 1 million circumcisions, about 167 deaths occur, right?

Or am I missing something? It can be hard to get accurate statistics.

[glongley]

Where did you get the 1 in 6000 number?

Gillian

[quarteralien]

The reasoning is correct. I don't know about the numbers though. I know they are rough estimates, but 167 is sort of an exact number to get from estimates that have one maybe two significant figures.

[MaryJaneLouise]

Mothering's article on RIC cites a death rate of one in 500,000. Which is bad enough for cosmetic surgery, but not quite as bad as per 6,000. So that would be about 2 US deaths per year, assuming 1 million circed boys.

http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org/fleiss.html

You could also argue that since RIC might cause early weaning, that causes excess deaths too. But that's kind of indirect.

[Fellow Traveler]

Yep your math is right but I would also like to know where you got that number. Interestingly I've read that it was 200/year or so but I am not sure of the reference.

[Nandi]

Could it be 200 per year worldwide for males? Or would the number be higher?

[Fellow Traveler]

My impression is that it was in the US but I can't cite a source. Deaths from circumcision can be attributed to a range of problems from blood loss to infection and other causes. Plus it would rarely make the news consider how often do you hear about an infant dieing from anything anyway though we know it happens. I do know that at least 22 boys died this year in the 'become a man' cultural circumcision in South Africa.