Social, Economic, and Biologic Correlates of Infant Mortality in City Neighborhoods

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which low infant weight intervenes in associations between infant mortality and social and economic characteristics of populations residing in Cleveland neighborhoods. This objective was achieved by applying hierarchical multiple regression analysis to a proposed causal ordering of variables in which racial composition and low family income were hypothesized to relate directly to illegitimacy and low-birth-weight ratios which in turn were postulated to directly influence neonatal and postneonatal rates. (EXCERPT)