American journal of preventive medicine
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Comparative Study
Postneonatal deaths from infections and injuries: race, maternal risk, and age at death.
Most infants with birthweights greater than or equal to 2,500 g who survive the first 27 days of life have a reasonable opportunity to grow into healthy children. However, some of these infants succumb to two potentially preventable causes of death: infections and injuries. Although the relationship between maternal attributes and risk of death from these causes has been described, little is known about how maternal attributes relate to postneonatal age at death. ⋯ The same was true for three categories of injury death (motor vehicle, fire, and homicide), but not for injury deaths in the category of choking, drowning, or suffocation. Among blacks, these deaths occurred at younger ages, regardless of maternal risk status. Thus, efforts to prevent deaths from choking, drowning, or suffocation among blacks should focus on early infancy.