Abstract

PIP: This study utilizes an ecological approach based on census tracts of residence to examine the relationship between infant mortality and socioeconomic status in metropolitan Ohio, US, at 2 two points in time (1959-1961 and 1969-1971). The data presented clearly indicate that the infant mortality rate continues to exhibit a pronounced inverse association with a wide variety of socioeconomic variables. Although there were some notable exceptions and variations from the general patterns, a basic inverse relationship was characteristic of both neonatal and postneonatal components of infant mortality, for both males and females, and for both major exogenous and endogenous causes of death. Of all the variables examined, the 1 factor that emerged as the strongest and most consistent determinant of census tract variations in infant mortality was the proportion of low income families. Thus, the overriding conclusion suggested by this study is that in spite of such things as continued advances in medicine and public health, the expansion of social programs during the 1960s, and the recent resumption of a downward trend in the infant mortality rate, there has been little if any progress in achieving more equitable life chances for the economically deprived segments of our population.