Family and community factors associated with infant deaths that might be preventable

Abstract

A detailed psychosocial study was made of all deaths in babies aged between 8 days and 2 years in Sheffield over two years. An identical assessment was made of a group of control children matched for age. Sixty five children who died and 102 controls were studied. Each index and control child was assessed for 13 potentially adverse social and family factors. The deaths were classified into causal groups. The families of children who died during the course of potentially treatable diseases (those with infections and those who presented as cot deaths but had treatable infection) had a significantly greater number of adverse social factors than the families of children who died from conditions with a poor prognosis, children who presented as completely unexplained cot deaths, and controls. The adverse factors studied, although often related to economic state, appeared to be independent of social class.