Infant mortality by cause: a comparison of underlying and multiple cause designations.

The extent of variability in the social, economic, and demographic characteristics of infant deaths when grouped by detailed cause is analyzed using health statistics data for Florida for the period 1980-1982. "The analysis first compares cause-of-death-specific infant, neonatal, and postneonatal mortality between each of the four cause-of-death models. Next, interest shifts to an examination of the variability among decedents, specific to cause of death, in a range of background, proximate, and immediate determinants of infant health and survival. Variability is evident in cause-specific mortality rates as well as in decedent characteristics across the cause-of-death models. These findings suggest that more attention be given to the mode of identifying cause of death in studies of infant mortality." (SUMMARY IN FRE) excerpt