title: Risk factors for deaths due to respiratory infections among Brazilian infants.
abstract: In a population based case-control study, 127 Brazilian infants who died due to a respiratory infection were compared with 254 neighbourhood controls. The main risk factors associated with mortality were low socioeconomic status (including low levels of parental education) and--after adjustment for socioeconomic status--lack of breastfeeding, lack of supplementation with non-milk foods, crowding, the number of under-fives in the family, lack of a flush toilet, low birthweight, low weight-for-age and having a young mother. In a multivariate analysis, the variables found to be most closely associated with mortality were breastfeeding, education of the father, the number of under-fives, family income and birthweight. Having a low weight-for-age was also strongly associated with mortality but the retrospective nature of the study makes this finding difficult to interpret.
authors.affiliation: Departmento de Medicina Social, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Brazil.
authors.forename: C G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Victora
authors.forename: P G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: F C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Barros
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Vaughan
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Fuchs
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D001724:Birth Weight; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D001942:Breast Feeding; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003441:Crowding; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011203:Poverty; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality*; D012307:Risk Factors