title: Infant mortality, per capita income, and adult illiteracy: an ecological approach.
abstract: The ecological association of infant mortality rate (IM) with per capita income (PI) and prevalence of adult illiteracy (AI) has been studied using countries as the unit of analysis. A negative association between IM and PI in 1960 and 1982 has been observed (sample correlation coefficient [r] = -.625 and r = -.729, respectively; P less than .05). A correlation between IM and AI has been found for both men and women (r = .827 and r = .855, respectively; P less than .05). The ecological relative risks were 7.43 for men and 5.82 for women (95% confidence intervals: 5.16-10.71 and 4.36-7.75, respectively). The association of IM and PI shows a slight but not significant improvement between 1960 and 1982. AI can be considered a good predictor of IM in countries.
authors.affiliation: Health Department, Public Health Services, Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tresserras
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Canela
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alvarez
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sentis
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Salleras
mesh_terms: D015982:Bias; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D007226:Infant Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors