title: The path analysis approach for the multivariate analysis of infant mortality data.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This paper reviews the use of the Path Analysis (PA) methodology in health determinants modeling, with special reference to infant mortality modeling.
  
  
  METHODS
  A review of the literature on PA applications in the modeling of infant mortality and similar problems is presented, together with a discussion of the conceptual basis of PA and its relation to other multivariate statistical techniques. Important aspects of the technique are discussed: 1) criteria for path formulation; 2) parameter estimation methods; 3) direct, indirect, spurious, and joint effects; and 4) goodness-of-fit and modification indices.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The review of the literature suggests that PA represents a methodological improvement regarding multivariate techniques used in modeling some health-related issues. PA allows investigation of more complex models, providing information that could have been previously overlooked, such as how the interrelations among independent variables in a model affect the dependent ones.
authors.affiliation: Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, ENSP/FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Vasconcelos
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Almeida
authors.forename: F F
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Nobre
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality; D015233:Models, Statistical; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D013223:Statistics as Topic