Brief and precarious lives: infant mortality in contrasting sites from medieval and post-medieval England (AD 850-1859). 2007

Mary E Lewis, and Rebecca Gowland
School of Human and Environmental Studies, Department of Archaeology, University of Reading, Reading, Berkshire, UK. m.e.lewis@reading.ac.uk

This study compares the infant mortality profiles of 128 infants from two urban and two rural cemetery sites in medieval England. The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of urbanization and industrialization in terms of endogenous or exogenous causes of death. In order to undertake this analysis, two different methods of estimating gestational age from long bone lengths were used: a traditional regression method and a Bayesian method. The regression method tended to produce more marked peaks at 38 weeks, while the Bayesian method produced a broader range of ages and were more comparable with the expected "natural" mortality profiles.At all the sites, neonatal mortality (28-40 weeks) outweighed post-neonatal mortality (41-48 weeks) with rural Raunds Furnells in Northamptonshire, showing the highest number of neonatal deaths and post-medieval Spitalfields, London, showing a greater proportion of deaths due to exogenous or environmental factors. Of the four sites under study, Wharram Percy in Yorkshire showed the most convincing "natural" infant mortality profile, suggesting the inclusion of all births at the site (i.e., stillbirths and unbaptised infants).

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007223 Infant A child between 1 and 23 months of age. Infants
D007226 Infant Mortality Postnatal deaths from BIRTH to 365 days after birth in a given population. Postneonatal mortality represents deaths between 28 days and 365 days after birth (as defined by National Center for Health Statistics). Neonatal mortality represents deaths from birth to 27 days after birth. Neonatal Mortality,Mortality, Infant,Postneonatal Mortality,Infant Mortalities,Mortalities, Infant,Mortalities, Neonatal,Mortalities, Postneonatal,Mortality, Neonatal,Mortality, Postneonatal,Neonatal Mortalities,Postneonatal Mortalities
D007231 Infant, Newborn An infant during the first 28 days after birth. Neonate,Newborns,Infants, Newborn,Neonates,Newborn,Newborn Infant,Newborn Infants
D008131 London The capital of the United Kingdom. It is located in England.
D012044 Regression Analysis Procedures for finding the mathematical function which best describes the relationship between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables. In linear regression (see LINEAR MODELS) the relationship is constrained to be a straight line and LEAST-SQUARES ANALYSIS is used to determine the best fit. In logistic regression (see LOGISTIC MODELS) the dependent variable is qualitative rather than continuously variable and LIKELIHOOD FUNCTIONS are used to find the best relationship. In multiple regression, the dependent variable is considered to depend on more than a single independent variable. Regression Diagnostics,Statistical Regression,Analysis, Regression,Analyses, Regression,Diagnostics, Regression,Regression Analyses,Regression, Statistical,Regressions, Statistical,Statistical Regressions
D004739 England A part of Great Britain within the United Kingdom.
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000365 Age Determination by Skeleton Establishment of the age of an individual by examination of their skeletal structure. Bone Age Measurement,Skeletal Age Measurement,Skeletal Maturation Index,Age Measurement, Bone,Age Measurement, Skeletal,Age Measurements, Bone,Age Measurements, Skeletal,Bone Age Measurements,Index, Skeletal Maturation,Indices, Skeletal Maturation,Maturation Index, Skeletal,Maturation Indices, Skeletal,Measurement, Bone Age,Measurement, Skeletal Age,Measurements, Bone Age,Measurements, Skeletal Age,Skeletal Age Measurements,Skeletal Maturation Indices
D001106 Archaeology Study of the ancient and recent human or animal past through material remains. It analyzes the physical remains of the past in pursuit of a broad and comprehensive understanding of human culture. Archeology,Bioarchaeology
D001499 Bayes Theorem A theorem in probability theory named for Thomas Bayes (1702-1761). In epidemiology, it is used to obtain the probability of disease in a group of people with some characteristic on the basis of the overall rate of that disease and of the likelihood of that characteristic in healthy and diseased individuals. The most familiar application is in clinical decision analysis where it is used for estimating the probability of a particular diagnosis given the appearance of some symptoms or test result. Bayesian Analysis,Bayesian Estimation,Bayesian Forecast,Bayesian Method,Bayesian Prediction,Analysis, Bayesian,Bayesian Approach,Approach, Bayesian,Approachs, Bayesian,Bayesian Approachs,Estimation, Bayesian,Forecast, Bayesian,Method, Bayesian,Prediction, Bayesian,Theorem, Bayes

Related Publications

Mary E Lewis, and Rebecca Gowland
November 2002, American journal of physical anthropology,
Mary E Lewis, and Rebecca Gowland
January 1977, Medicina nei secoli,
Mary E Lewis, and Rebecca Gowland
June 2017, Annals of human biology,
Mary E Lewis, and Rebecca Gowland
January 1981, The Yale journal of biology and medicine,
Mary E Lewis, and Rebecca Gowland
January 1983, The Journal of psychohistory,
Mary E Lewis, and Rebecca Gowland
December 2015, Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz,
Mary E Lewis, and Rebecca Gowland
November 2013, American journal of physical anthropology,
Mary E Lewis, and Rebecca Gowland
November 1968, Vital and health statistics. Series 3, Analytical studies,
Copied contents to your clipboard!