Patterns of infant mortality from Armenian parish records: a study from 10 countries of the diaspora, 1737-1982.

Using parish records from 10 different countries with small Armenian communities, this study compared patterns of infant mortality in these countries over a period of 245 years. Deaths registered as aged < or = 1 year were used to estimate the numerator for the infant mortality rates (IMR) while the denominator was estimated from births in the same year based on baptisms in the appropriate registers. To check on the validity of using the baptisms as the denominator for the IMR, records of infant deaths were linked with the baptismal records. Thus, from a sample of 273 infant deaths 78.4% had a baptismal record in the registers of the same church in which the death was recorded. Of the deaths 60% had a recorded cause of death. Over the past 245 years, IMR have fallen substantially in all parishes. However, there were notable exceptions to this general pattern of declining IMR over time. For example, the IMR was tripled in Palestine during the decade of the First World War, possibly as a result of the influx of refugees deported from Turkey. A study of the seasonal occurrence of the deaths revealed peaking of deaths between May and August, a pattern influenced by the relative importance of gastroenteritis as a cause of death during the summer months in Egypt where the majority of these infant deaths were recorded. A review of the most important causes of death helped identify an outbreak of undetermined cause in Belgrade in 1737 and an outbreak of dysentery deaths in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1909.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)