Infant diarrhoea and subsequent mortality from heart disease and cancer.

A preliminary examination of the relationship between the infant mortality of US birth cohorts and their mortality in later life suggested that infant mortality from diarrhoea and enteritis was particularly influential. In the 1917-21 birth cohorts of 17 US Registration States, infant mortality from diarrhoea and enteritis was significantly related to arteriosclerosis heart disease at ages 40-44 and 50-54 in both sexes, and to respiratory cancer at the same ages in men, after controlling for contemporary infant mortality. Hypotheses suggest by these relationships are put forward.