Neonatal and Postneonatal Mortality as Proxies for Cause of Death: Evidence from Ethnic and Longitudinal Comparisons

Past research on infant mortality has often employed timing of death as a proxy for cause of death. In a study, a 51-year data set of consistently coded infant death records is examined, which also allows comparison of Mexican American and Anglo infants. Timing is generally not a valid proxy of cause structure, but important variation over time and by ethnicity sheds additional light on mortality transition differentials.