[Infant mortality in Asker and Baerum in the 18th and 19th century].
BACKGROUND
The decline in infant mortality is an important part of the secular decline in mortality in the western world. The major causes of the decline are subject to controversy.


METHODS
Individual event records from censuses, church records and land registers from two Norwegian parishes during the years 1814-1878 were registered and linked into individual life course records. Around 15,000 infants, of whom 1500 died, were analysed in depth with Cox regression analysis. The total yearly counts of births and infant deaths from 1735 were analysed using ordinary linear regression.


RESULTS
Infant mortality hovered around 23 per cent during the middle of the 18th century and fell to a level around 10 per cent by the end of the 19th century. The decline was strongest during the neonatal period. Women born during the first decade of the 19th century, a decade known for a succession of years with bad harvests, war and high infant mortality, gave birth to infants with increased neonatal mortality.


CONCLUSIONS
The decline in infant mortality during the first part of the 19th century can thus be attributed to an improvement in the health of the mothers dating back to their own fetal or infant stage. The decline took place in the absence of trained medical personnel.
Fure
Eli
E
Riksarkivet, Postboks 4013 Ullevål stadion, 0806 Oslo. eli.fure@riksarkivaren.dep.no
D002423:Cause of Death; D019992:Databases as Topic; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D007226:Infant Mortality / Q000266:history* / Q000639:trends; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D012042:Registries; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors