title: Infant mortality and ethnicity in an indigenous European population: novel evidence from the Finnish population register.
abstract: We provide the first analyses of infant mortality rates by indigenous ethnic group in Finland, a country that has one of the lowest relative numbers of infant deaths in the world. Using files from the Finnish population register, we identified both of the parents of children born in the period from 1975-2003 according to ethnic affiliation, socioeconomic profile, and demographic position. The infant mortality rate in homogamous Finnish unions is similar to that in homogamous Swedish unions, which reflects a lack of social disparities between the two groups. Surprisingly, infants from ethnically mixed unions have markedly lower mortality rates, with an adjusted rate ratio of 0.81 relative to homogamous Swedish unions (95% CI: 0.67-0.98). Although not empirically verified, we argue that the lower infant mortality rate in ethnically mixed unions may be due to lower levels of inbreeding, and hence related to historically low intermarriage rates between the two ethnic groups, remote consanguinities, and restricted inter-community gene flow.
authors.affiliation: University of Helsinki and Åbo Akademi University, Finland, Jan Saarela, Åbo Akademi University, PO Box 311, FIN-65101 Vasa, Finland.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Saarela
authors.affiliation: Fjalar Finnäs, Åbo Akademi University, PO Box 311, FIN-65101 Vasa, Finland.
authors.forename: Fjalar
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Finnäs
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality / Q000208:ethnology*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012042:Registries; D044465:White People; D055815:Young Adult