Volume 14 - Article 10 | Pages 179-216

Race/Ethnic differences and age-variation in the effects of birth outcomes on infant mortality in the U.S.

By Daniel A. Powers, W. Parker Frisbie, Robert Hummer, Starling G. Pullum, Patricio Solis


Date received:	07 Jun 2005
Date published:	10 Mar 2006
Word count:	6919
Keywords:	birth outcomes, infant and child mortality, measurements, nonproportional effects, race/ethnic differences, statistical models
DOI:	10.4054/DemRes.2006.14.10

Abstract

This paper investigates the effects of birth outcomes on infant mortality for non-Hispanic white, black, and Mexican-American females in the U.S. (1995-1998). Proportional hazard models with age-varying effects of continuous birth outcome measures reveal larger birth outcome effects on neonatal mortality, smaller effects on postneonatal mortality, and moderate age-variation within the neonatal period. Unlike static models, age-varying effect models of early and late gestational age and small birth weight statistically adjust for the black neonatal mortality disadvantage relative to whites.

Author's Affiliation

Daniel A. Powers - University of Texas at Austin, United States of America [Email]
W. Parker Frisbie - University of Texas at Austin, United States of America [Email]
Robert Hummer - University of Texas at Austin, United States of America [Email]
Starling G. Pullum - University of Texas at Austin, United States of America [Email]
Patricio Solis - Colegio de Mexico, Mexico [Email]