US childhood mortality, 1950 through 1993: Trends and socioeconomic diffferentials.

Publisher: American Public Health Association Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 1254074 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Print ISSN: 0090-0036 (Print) Linking ISSN: 00900036 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Am J Public Health Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: Washington, DC : American Public Health Association
Original Publication: New York [etc.]

Income* ; Socioeconomic Factors*; Infant Mortality/*trends; Adolescent ; Cause of Death ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Educational Status ; Ethnicity ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Least-Squares Analysis ; Linear Models ; Male ; Population Surveillance ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Racial Groups ; United States/epidemiology

Objectives: This study examined trends and differentials in US childhood mortality from 1950 through 1993 according to sex, race/ethnicity, education, family income, and cause of death.
Methods: Log-linear, multiple regression, and Cox proportional hazards regression models were applied to the data from the National Vital Statistics System, the National Longitudinal Mortality Study, and the Area Resource File.
Results: Substantial declines in US childhood mortality have occurred in the past 4 decades, primarily due to decreases in mortality from unintentional injuries, cancer, pneumonia and influenza, and congenital anomalies. The overall declining trend, however, has been dampened by a twofold to threefold increase in the suicide and homicide rates among children since 1968. Male, Black, American Indian, Hawaiian, and Puerto Rican children and those in the lower socioeconomic strata were at an increased risk of death.
Conclusions: Increasing trends in mortality from violence, firearm injuries, and human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome pose a major obstacle to continued declines in US childhood mortality. Reducing socioeconomic disparities and improving access to and use of health care may bring about further declines in overall and injury-related childhood mortality.

Comment in: Am J Public Health. 1996 Apr;86(4):473-4. (PMID: 8604774)

J Health Polit Policy Law. 1990 Summer;15(2):271-304. (PMID: 2212526)
Appl Behav Sci Rev. 1994;2(1):77-94. (PMID: 12346273)
Am J Public Health. 1982 Jun;72(6):539-47. (PMID: 7072871)
N Engl J Med. 1985 Aug 8;313(6):360-6. (PMID: 4010752)
Public Health Rep. 1988 Mar-Apr;103(2):184-8. (PMID: 3128836)
Pediatrics. 1988 Oct;82(4):582-95. (PMID: 3174316)
Pediatrics. 1995 Dec;96(6):1029-39. (PMID: 7491217)
Epidemiology. 1992 Mar;3(2):181-4. (PMID: 1576225)
JAMA. 1993 Nov 24;270(20):2464-8. (PMID: 8031341)
Am J Public Health. 1995 Jan;85(1):26-9. (PMID: 7832257)
Am J Public Health. 1995 Jul;85(7):957-64. (PMID: 7604920)
Int J Health Serv. 1995;25(2):283-94. (PMID: 7622319)
JAMA. 1995 Nov 8;274(18):1468-71. (PMID: 7474195)

Date Created: 19960401 Date Completed: 19960513 Latest Revision: 20211203

20231215

PMC1380550

10.2105/ajph.86.4.505

8604780