Secular trends in all cause mortality among children under the age of 15 years in Germany, 1980–2015

Abstract

Introduction In the last century infant mortality in Germany has decreased substantially. Hundred years ago, one in six children in Germany died under the age of one year, while the corresponding rate today is about 3 in 1000 children. Similar reports on secular trends of the age-specific mortality among children of other age groups in the last decades are rather rare. Therefore, the aim of this study was an overview of secular trends in the age-specific mortality rates of children under the age of 15 years in Germany for the time from 1980 to 2015. Methods The analyses of secular trends were based on the German age- and sex-specific mortality data of the following age groups: Results The time series of the infant mortality ( Conclusions The analysis of age- and sex-specific mortality rates in time series allows an overview of the mortality development in different age groups and comparisons between both sexes over a longer period in time. The detection and comparison of secular trends is supported by visualization of the data in time series. Mortality rates decreased between 1980 and 2015 in all age groups considered and the differences in the mortality of boys and girls diminished.