Race-and-Sex-Specific Modeling of Infant Mortality: An Empirical Analysis of U.S. National Linked Birth/Death Data

The primary objective of the study of fetal growth and development has been to reduce fetal and infant mortality, including the elimination of excess mortality that is observed in certain race/sex groups (i.e. African American and male infants). To continue this effort, this study utilized national infant birth/death data in three ways: (1) Race-and-sex-specific models of infant mortality were developed that corroborated several current hypotheses regarding mortality differences among race/sex groups as well as generated new hypotheses to explain these differences; (2) Eight different models of infant mortality based on infant birthweight and gestational age were created and compared as to predictive ability; and, (3) These eight models allowed for the generation of ‘mortality risk scores’ that will enable clinicians and researchers to study predictors of infant mortality in clinical studies that previously have been two small to adequately estimate infant death.