[Mortality trends in persons younger than 15 years of age. Spain, 1980-1993]

To find the pattern of mortality in people between 1 and 14 years old and how this evolved between 1980 and 1993.

A descriptive, epidemiological study.

State-wide study of mortality.

The source of information were the vital statistics published by the National Institute of Statistics. The mortality statistics for the XVII groups of illnesses in the ninth ICD and the evolution of the main causes responsible.

The rate of mortality in 1993 was 24.76 per 10(5) (C.I. 95%, 23.55-25.97). The main causes of death were: malign tumours (4.17 per 10(5); C.I. 95%, 3.67-4.67), traffic accidents (3.56 per 10(5); C.I. 95%, 3.10-4.02) and congenital anomalies (3.1 per 10(5); C.I. 95%, 2.67-3.53). The highest rates were for the 1 to 4 years old period (39.38 per 10(5); C.I. 95%, 36.30-42.46), in which congenital anomalies predominated (7.67 per 10(5); C.I. 95%, 6.31-9.03). Between 1980 and 1993 mortality fell for all age and sex groups, and for all the large groups of diseases except group III, which increased by 44.5%.

Children between 1 and 14 years old have a low mortality rate, which is evolving constantly over time both in frequency and in its main determining causes. Mortality fell considerably in recent years for almost all diseases.