A comprehensive index for longitudinal monitoring of child health status
Satyanarayana, L.; Indrayan, A.; Sachdev, H.P.; Gupta, S.M.
Indian Pediatrics 32(4): 443-452
1995
ISSN/ISBN: 0019-6061 PMID: 8635808 Document Number: 298776
This study resulted in the development of a single comprehensive index of child mortality that can provide a longitudinal assessment of the health status of children. Rates of fetal, perinatal, neonatal, infant, and under age 5 mortality were obtained from the Registrar General of India's Sample Registration System for 15 Indian states during 1972-88. The comprehensive index was developed as a linear combination of two factors that explain 78-93% of the total variation in child mortality in different years: 1) mortality after birth and 2) mortality before and during birth. Child health status improves as the magnitude of this index declines. Application of the index revealed improved health status in the states of Kerala, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra (in declining order). Because the index of child mortality developed in this study gives differential weights to its several components, depending upon their overall contribution, simple summation of under age 5 mortality rates and the stillbirth rate would not be an adequate replacement for the statistical computation called for by the index. The minor drawbacks to use of the index are the tedious nature of the required calculations, its lack of an actual meaning in terms of mortality rates, and its limited applicability to settings where computed mortality rates of various segments are available. However, the index can be helpful in longitudinal monitoring of child health status and in providing comparisons between different states.