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Social History of Medicine 1991 4(1):29-73; doi:10.1093/shm/4.1.29
© 1991 by Society for the Social History of Medicine
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On Maternal and Infant Mortality 1900–1960

IRVINE LOUDON*

* Green College, Oxford OX2 6HG.

SUMMARY It has often been thought that maternal and infant mortality were closely linked and responded in a similar manner to the same social, economic, and medical determinants of mortality rates. If there were a close link it would be expected to be strongest between maternal and neonatal mortality, because the latter is usually ascribed to natal (or endogenous) factors. Conversely, the link between maternal mortality and post-neonatal mortality might be expected to be slight because post-neonatal deaths are usually due to environmental (or exogenous) factors. In this paper, which is based largely on the period 1900–60, it is shown that against expectation the links between maternal mortality and all components of infant mortality, including neonatal mortality, are very slight. The explanation can be found by examining the immediate causes of maternal and neonatal deaths. The advantage of placing these mortalities side by side and comparing their response to various determinants is that it brings to the fore features of maternal and infant mortality which are not obvious if they are examined in isolation.

Keywords: Maternal Morality; infant mortality; neonatal mortality; clinical; social and economic determinants of mortality; causes of maternal and neonatal mortality; mortality and morbidity; international comparisons; effects of second world war.


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