© 1979 Oxford University Press
research-article |
The Relationship between Infant Mortality Rates and Medical Care and Socio-economic Variables, Chile 1960–1970
1,2,3 From the Health Services Research and Development Center and the Departments of Pediatrics and Health Services Administration (Health Care Organization), The Johns Hopkins Medical Instructions, Baltimore, Maryland.Supported by The Community Medical Scholarship Program Grant 5T01 HS00132 (Bureau of Health Resources Administration) and Evalution, Health Resources Administration) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program.Presented at the Eighth International Scientific Meeting of the International Epidemiology Association, San Juan, Puerto Rico, September 22, 1977.
McCormick M C [Health Services Research and Development Center, The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, 624 North Broadway, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA], Shapiro S and Dadakis Horn S. The relationship between infant mortality rates and medical care and socio-economic variables, Chile 1960–1970. International Journal of Epidemiology 1979 8: 145–154.
Infant mortality rates (IMR) have traditionally been considered useful as health status indicators, and changes in these rates are thought to reflect changes in both medical care services and socio-economic circumstances. In order to explore this relationship of IMR with medical care and socio-economic factors in a developing country, Chilean health zone data for the decade 1960–1970 were used to construct 25 variables which were then classified into groups representing antenatal-obstetric services, acute and preventive medical services and socio-economic variables. In an analysis which involved developing a series of linear multiple regression equations for each year of the decade 1960–1970 with IMR as the dependent variable, the percentage of births with professional attention proved to be the strongest variable.
Received 2 January 1979