Growth faltering lacks association with the distribution of first year deaths.
A retrospective study of infant mortality from death registers was made in St Lucia and St Vincent. In both islands postneonatal deaths by month were found to be evenly distributed throughout the first year although the total infant mortality rates differed widely. The growth of a cohort of children from three St Lucian villages was studied. Their weight curve showed 'faltering' at 3 months, closely resembling the developing world pattern described by Waterlow, Ashworth & Griffiths (1980). We therefore conclude that there is no necessary association between this pattern of infant growth and infant mortality rate, nor between the distribution of weight velocity and the distribution of deaths in the first year.
D001719:Birth Certificates; D001724:Birth Weight; D006128:Growth; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012424:Rural Population; D014900:West Indies