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Ethnic variations in mortality in pre-school children in Denmark, 1973–2004

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Abstract

The objective of the study was to describe ethnic differences in under-five-years mortality in Denmark according to maternal country of origin. We conducted a large registry-linkage study of all singleton live-born children from mothers born in Denmark and from the ten largest migrant groups (n = 1,841,450). Study outcomes were death before the age of 5 years from all causes combined and the most frequent death causes. Results showed that children of mothers of Turkish, Pakistani, Somali and Iraqi origin had an elevated risk of dying before the age of five compared to offspring of mothers born in Denmark, with hazards ratios and 95% confidence intervals of 1.48 (1.31–1.67), 1.97 (1.68–2.32), 1.70 (1.29–2.25), and 1.92 (1.41–2.62), respectively. Ethnic differences were also observed in the underlying causes of death. Children of mothers born in Former Yugoslavia, Lebanon, Norway, Sweden, Iran, and Afghanistan did not differ in under-five-years mortality from ethnic Danish children. Adjustments for household income did not attenuate the risk estimates. In conclusion, we found excess child mortality in some migrant groups, but not in all. The differences could not be explained by socioeconomic status.

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Abbreviations

CI:

Confidence interval

HR:

Hazard ratio

CNS:

Central nervous system

ICD:

International Classification of Diseases

U5-mortality:

Under-five-years mortality

WHO:

World Health Organization

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Conflict of interest

There are no conflicts of interest to declare in relation to this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, JB Winsløws Vej 9, 5000, Odense, Denmark

    Grete Skøtt Pedersen

  2. Connors Center for Women’s Health and Gender Biology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Grete Skøtt Pedersen

  3. Section of Social Medicine, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Laust Hvas Mortensen & Anne-Marie Nybo Andersen

Authors
  1. Grete Skøtt Pedersen
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  2. Laust Hvas Mortensen
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  3. Anne-Marie Nybo Andersen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Grete Skøtt Pedersen.

Appendix

Appendix

See Appendix Table 5.

Table 5 Hazard ratio and 95% CI of U5-mortality by ethnic groups, stratified by sex (Denmark 1973–2004)
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Pedersen, G.S., Mortensen, L.H. & Andersen, AM.N. Ethnic variations in mortality in pre-school children in Denmark, 1973–2004. Eur J Epidemiol 26, 527–536 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-011-9594-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-011-9594-1

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