Intensive home visiting is associated with decreased risk of infant death.
OBJECTIVE
The goal was to test the hypothesis that participation in a community-based home-visiting program is associated with a decreased risk of infant death.


METHODS
A retrospective, case-control design was used to compare the risk of infant death among participants in Cincinnati's Every Child Succeeds program and control subjects matched for gestational age at birth, previous pregnancy loss, marital status, and maternal age. The likelihood of infant death, adjusted for level of prenatal care, maternal smoking, maternal education, race, and age, was determined with multivariate logistic regression. The interaction between race and program participation and the effect of home visiting on the risk of preterm birth were explored.


RESULTS
Infants whose families did not receive home visiting (n = 4995) were 2.5 times more likely to die in infancy compared with infants whose families received home visiting (n = 1665). Black infants were at least as likely to benefit from home visiting as were nonblack infants. No effect of program participation on the risk of preterm birth was observed.


CONCLUSIONS
The current study is consistent with the hypothesis that intensive home visiting reduces the risk of infant death.
Donovan
Edward F
EF
Child Policy Research Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, 3333 Burnet Ave, MLC 7014, Cincinnati, OH 45229-3039, USA. edward.donovan@cchmc.org
Ammerman
Robert T
RT
Besl
John
J
Atherton
Harry
H
Khoury
Jane C
JC
Altaye
Mekibib
M
Putnam
Frank W
FW
Van Ginkel
Judith B
JB
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006792:House Calls / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011247:Pregnancy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors