Ethnicity, birth weight, and maternal age in infant mortality: Hawaiian experience

To investigate the role of ethnicity, birth weight, and maternal age in infant mortality, separately in neonatal and postneonatal phases, this study used linked birth and infant death certificates for a 10-year period, 1979-1988, in the State of Hawaii. Log-linear analysis was applied to the cross-classified tables generated from the two files. Birth weight was a strong factor both in neonatal and postneonatal phases, but ethnicity was a factor only in the latter phase. Maternal age was not significant in infant survival in either phase, but it was strongly associated with the other two factors. Among the nine major ethnic groups residing in the state, black and Hawaiian women were more likely to have infants dying during the postneonatal period. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.