Dataset Information

Inequalities in infant mortality in Italy.

ABSTRACT:

Background

All the children of the world should be born equal, but this is not so: even in Italy, there are striking differences already at birth. Neonatal and infant mortality are accurate indexes to assess the demographic wellbeing and quality of life of a population. The aim of the present study is to analyze the infant (IMR) and neonatal (NMR) mortality rates of Italian and foreign children and to evaluate if there is a disparity among geographical macro-areas.

Methods

Data from 2006 to 2015 were collected by the Italian Statistics Bureau (ISTAT) and extracted from two different national databases, which considered i) underlying cause of death and ii) birth registry. Mortality rates were calculated using conventional definitions. The main analyses were made comparing Italian versus foreigners as a single category as well as by country origin and contrasting Northern residents versus Southern ones. Comparisons between groups were done using relative risks.

Results

Data show disparity in neonatal and infant mortality among immigrant and Italian residents. In 2015, neonatal (3.0 vs. 1.8/1000) and infant (4.5 vs 2.6/1000) mortality rates were higher among foreign children compared to Italian children. Among babies born to immigrant women, there is a higher infant mortality among children born to women coming from Central and South Africa (8.2 /1000). Inequalities are reported even among Italian regions: in Southern Italy, infant mortality is 1.4 fold higher than in Northern Italy.

Conclusion

Inequalities in neonatal and infant mortality are evident between Italians and immigrants and among geographical macro-areas There is therefore urgent need for a political and social plan focusing on infancy.

SUBMITTER: Simeoni S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6330401 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Inequalities in infant mortality in Italy.

Simeoni Silvia S Frova Luisa L De Curtis Mario M

Italian journal of pediatrics 20190111 1

<h4>Background</h4>All the children of the world should be born equal, but this is not so: even in Italy, there are striking differences already at birth. Neonatal and infant mortality are accurate indexes to assess the demographic wellbeing and quality of life of a population. The aim of the present study is to analyze the infant (IMR) and neonatal (NMR) mortality rates of Italian and foreign children and to evaluate if there is a disparity among geographical macro-areas.<h4>Methods</h4>Data fr ...[more]

PMID: 30635011

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Project description:BackgroundUnderstanding context specific heat-health risks in urban areas is important, especially given anticipated severe increases in summer temperatures due to climate change effects. We investigate social inequalities in the association between daily temperatures and mortality in summer in the city of Turin for the period 1982-2018 among different social and demographic groups such as sex, age, educational level, marital status and household occupants.MethodsMortality data are represented by individual all-cause mortality counts for the summer months between 1982 and 2018. Socioeconomic level and daily mean temperature were assigned to each deceased. A time series Poisson regression with distributed lag non-linear models was fitted to capture the complex nonlinear dependency between daily mortality and temperature in summer. The mortality risk due to heat is represented by the Relative Risk (RR) at the 99th percentile of daily summer temperatures for each population subgroup.ResultsAll-cause mortality risk is higher among women (1.88; 95% CI = 1.77, 2.00) and the elderly (2.13; 95% CI = 1.94, 2.33). With regard to education, the highest significant effects for men is observed among higher education levels (1.66; 95% CI = 1.38, 1.99), while risks for women is higher for the lower educational level (1.93; 95% CI = 1.79, 2.08). Results on marital status highlighted a stronger association for widower in men (1.66; 95% CI = 1.38, 2.00) and for separated and divorced in women (2.11; 95% CI = 1.51, 2.94). The risk ratio of household occupants reveals a stronger association for men who lived alone (1.61; 95% CI = 1.39, 1.86), while for women results are almost equivalent between alone and not alone groups.ConclusionsThe associations between heat and mortality is unequal across different aspects of social vulnerability, and, inter alia, factors influencing the population vulnerability to temperatures can be related to demographic, social, and economic aspects. A number of issues are identified and recommendations for the prioritisation of further research are provided. A better knowledge of these effect modifiers is needed to identify the axes of social inequality across the most vulnerable population sub-groups.

Project description:BACKGROUND: The existence of socio-economic inequalities in child mortality is well documented. African cities grow faster than cities in most other regions of the world; and inequalities in African cities are thought to be particularly large. Revealing health-related inequalities is essential in order for governments to be able to act against them. This study aimed to systematically compare inequalities in child mortality across 10 major African cities (Cairo, Lagos, Kinshasa, Luanda, Abidjan, Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, Dakar, Addis Ababa, Accra), and to investigate trends in such inequalities over time. METHODS: Data from two rounds of demographic and health surveys (DHS) were used for this study (if available): one from around the year 2000 and one from between 2007 and 2011. Child mortality rates within cities were calculated by population wealth quintiles. Inequality in child mortality was assessed by computing two measures of relative inequality (the rate ratio and the concentration index) and two measures of absolute inequality (the difference and the Erreyger's index). RESULTS: Mean child mortality rates ranged from about 39 deaths per 1,000 live births in Cairo (2008) to about 107 deaths per 1,000 live births in Dar es Salaam (2010). Significant inequalities were found in Kinshasa, Luanda, Abidjan, and Addis Ababa in the most recent survey. The difference between the poorest quintile and the richest quintile was as much as 108 deaths per 1,000 live births (95% confidence interval 55 to 166) in Abidjan in 2011-2012. When comparing inequalities across cities or over time, confidence intervals of all measures almost always overlap. Nevertheless, inequalities appear to have increased in Abidjan, while they appear to have decreased in Cairo, Lagos, Dar es Salaam, Nairobi and Dakar. CONCLUSIONS: Considerable inequalities exist in almost all cities but the level of inequalities and their development over time appear to differ across cities. This implies that inequalities are amenable to policy interventions and that it is worth investigating why inequalities are higher in one city than in another. However, larger samples are needed in order to improve the certainty of our results. Currently available data samples from DHS are too small to reliably quantify the level of inequalities within cities.

Dataset Information

Inequalities in infant mortality in Italy.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Inequalities in infant mortality in Italy.

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