The effect of parental age, birth order and other variables on early childhood mortality: a Caribbean example

The 4275 births to women of native ancestry that took place on the island of St Barthélemy, French West Indies between 1878 and 1970 were analyzed according to the sex of the child, the year of birth, maternal age, maternal parity, paternal age and the number of children the father already had to determine the effects of these variables on rates of perinatal death, death before age 1 and death before age 5. The year of birth, the number of children the father already had, and maternal parity influenced death before age 1 and death before age 5. The sex of the child also influenced the probability of dying in the first year of life but not the first 5 yr of life when the other variables were controlled. Perinatal deaths were influenced only by the sex of the child, but even this effect disappeared when the other variables were controlled.