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Revisiting the effect of time of birth on neonatal, infant, and child mortality in rural Spain, 1830‐1929
Author(s) -
MarcoGracia Francisco J.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
american journal of human biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.559
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1520-6300
pISSN - 1042-0533
DOI - 10.1002/ajhb.23307
Subject(s) - demography , medicine , infant mortality , context (archaeology) , pediatrics , child mortality , environmental health , geography , population , archaeology , sociology
Objectives This article aims to determine whether different patterns of mortality occurred among children born during the day and the night respectively, between 1830 and 1929. Methods The data include the time of birth and death of 9814 individuals from 10 villages in rural Spain between 1830 and 1929, within a context of natural births at home with little medical support. These data were subjected to a comparative analysis relating to the time of birth and the age at death. Results Neonatal, infant, and child mortality was higher for children born during daytime. The day‐to‐night mortality pattern diverged until children were at least 5 years old. Conclusions The results confirm that the mortality patterns differed according to the time of birth. Possibly some of these children experienced longer or problematic deliveries that, in the absence of good medical assistance, had health consequences during the following days and years of life.