[Trends of 6 primary causes of mortality in Mexican children in 1971-2000. Epidemiologic transition in children].
OBJECTIVE
To determine trends of six main causes of mortality in Mexican children < 15 years of age.


METHODS



METHODS
Observational, descriptive and retrospective.


METHODS
January 1, 1971 to December 31, 2000. Studied Population: Children < 15 years of age, Statistic Analysis: mortality rates were obtained due to perinatal causes, respiratory infections, intestinal infections, accidents, congenital malformations (CM), and cancer (CA). They were stratified according to age groups in < 1 year, 1 to 4 years, 5 to 14 years, and 1 to 14 years of age. Percentage differences were calculated between 1971 and 2000, as were respective trends.


RESULTS
Global decrease in mortality was according to age group, 83.5% in 0 to 14-year-old, 71.3% in under one year old, 90.5 in 1 to 4-years-old, 79.2% in 5 to 14-year-old. The largest decrease in all groups was observed for infectious causes (> 90%), and increased CM between 120.1 to 160.5%, and CA between 28.0 to 56.4%.


CONCLUSIONS
Mortality in Mexican children has decreased significantly. Infectious causes show the most important reduction, the CM and CA showing largest increase. Accidents, although they reveal some tendency to decrease, are first cause of death in the group 1 to 14 years of age. Present data indicate the need to continue programs to provide care for infections diseases, and to establish new programs that include care for accidents, CM, and CA in children.
Unidad de Investigación Médica en Epidemiología Clínica, Hospital de Pediatría, Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Av. Cuauhtémoc 330, Col. Doctores, 06720, México, D.F.
Servando
S
Juárez-Ocaña
Juan Manuel
JM
Mejía-Aranguré
Mario Enrique
ME
Rendón-Macías
Armando
A
Kauffman-Nieves
Liria Tatsuko
LT
Yamamoto-Kimura
Arturo
A
Fajardo-Gutiérrez
D000293:Adolescent; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012189:Retrospective Studies