Seasonal diarrhoeal mortality among Mexican children.
The study investigated the effects on diarrhoeal deaths among under-5-year-old Mexican children of the following variables: season (summer or winter), region (north versus south), age group, and place of death. Examination of death certificates indicated that the distribution of deaths in 1989-90 was bimodal, with one peak during the winter and a more pronounced one during the summer. In 1993-94, however, the winter peak was higher than that in the summer (odds ratio (OR) = 2.04). These findings were due mostly to deaths among children aged 1-23 months (OR = 1.86). Diarrhoeal mortality was highest among children aged 6-11 months (OR = 2.23). During the winter, there was a significant increase in the number of deaths that occurred in medical care units and among children who had been seen by a physician before they died, but deaths occurring at home showed no seasonal variation. In the northern states, the reduction in diarrhoeal mortality was less in winter than in summer (OR = 2.62). In the southern states, the proportional reduction during the winter was similar to that in the summer.
Villa
S
S
Mexican Social Security Institute, Secretariat for Health, Mexico City, Mexico.
Guiscafré
H
H
Martínez
H
H
Muñoz
O
O
Gutiérrez
G
G
D002675:Child, Preschool; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000401:mortality* / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012621:Seasons