Articles: mortality.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Divergent mortality for male and female recipients of low-titer and high-titer measles vaccines in rural Senegal.
The female/male mortality ratio among unimmunized children and children vaccinated with standard or high-titer measles vaccines was examined for all children born in the period 1985-1991 in a rural area of Senegal. The female/male mortality ratio from 9 months to 5 years of age for unvaccinated children was 0.94 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.75-1.19), significantly different from the ratio of 0.64 (95% CI 0.48-0.85) for recipients of the Schwarz standard measles vaccine (p = 0.040). ⋯ Hence, the Schwarz standard and high-titer measles vaccines have divergent sex-specific effects on mortality throughout childhood. Further studies of the underlying mechanisms are needed.
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A computer model was developed to assess the impact on under-5 child mortality of breast-feeding practices in developing countries in the context of HIV infection. The model was used to estimate the effect on mortality of cessation of breast-feeding among mothers HIV-positive and mothers HIV-negative at birth, for both urban and rural settings. Using parameter values for a hypothetical East African country, cessation of breast-feeding in urban areas was predicted to result in increases in under-5 mortality of 108% for children of mothers HIV-negative at birth, and 27% for those HIV-positive at birth, with slightly larger increases in rural areas, suggesting that breast-feeding should continue to be promoted. ⋯ For mothers HIV-positive at birth, the key variables are the additional risk of vertical transmission attributable to breast-feeding, the under-5 mortality rate (U5MR) in breast-fed children, and the relative risk of mortality in non-breast-fed compared to breast-fed children. Depending on the values of these key variables, there may be some urban populations with low U5MR in which the positive and negative effects on under-5 mortality of a policy change are finely balanced. However, no change in policy should be made in these areas until more precise information is available on the key variables, and the many adverse consequences of such a change have been fully explored.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Mortality rates and risk factors for coronary disease in black as compared with white men and women.
Currently recognized risk factors for coronary artery disease have been identified primarily from investigations of white populations. In this investigation, we estimated mortality rates for coronary disease and for any cause and identified risk factors for death from coronary disease among whites and blacks. ⋯ Although the rates of death from coronary disease were somewhat lower among black men than white men and higher among black women than white women, the black:white mortality rate ratios were not statistically significant, and the major risk factors for mortality from coronary disease were similar in blacks and whites in the 30-year follow-up of the Charleston Heart Study.