Early childhood mortality in Cape Town

Early childhood mortality in the City of Cape Town was investigated with particular reference to preventability. Deaths were considered preventable if they resulted from infections or other acquired diseases and accidents. Non-preventable deaths were those resulting from congenital disorders, neoplastic disease and other non-acquired conditions. Cot deaths formed a third group. Mothers in the preventable group had had more pregnancies than those in the non-preventable group, and the children who died were more likely to have been born prematurely than children in the non-preventable group. Children in the preventable group came from lower social class backgrounds than those in the non-preventable group and were more frequently from single-parent families who lived with extended family or with people who were not related to them. Their families were less likely to own their own homes than families of children in the non-preventable group. The children who died had more siblings, more of whom had died previously, than children in a control group. The cot death group did not differ from the preventable group, but did differ from the non-preventable group with regard to gestational age and paternal occupation. The study shows that preventable deaths were particularly associated with socio-economic disadvantage.