BOOK REVIEWS

The author considers three methods of counting maternal deaths, and hence of calculating maternal mortality levels, in the nineteenth century. The first method counts maternal deaths classified in contemporary statistical publications. The second method examines nineteenth-century death registers for records of maternal deaths. The third method identifies maternal deaths through family reconstitution. The author finds that each method, in isolation, leads to underestimating maternal mortality levels because maternal deaths were often misregistered or misclassified under nonmaternal causes and were often not associated with live, registered births, as required for family reconstitution.     

DETERMINANTS OF ADULT MORTALITY IN INDIA

This study attempts to evaluate the factors affecting adult mortality with special emphasis on the lifestyle factors using the 1998–1999 National Family Health Survey (NFHS). The sample size, N, in this analysis is 330,267. It includes those aged 15–59 of which 2.6 per cent died during adulthood. In the Poisson regression model, the independent variables used are age, sex, place of residence, lifestyle factors of other members of the family, standard of living, literacy composition, caste, religion, mass media exposure, household type, fuel for cooking and region of residence. This analysis has been adjusted for the clustering of deaths at the family level. The findings suggest that there is a strong positive relationship between lifestyle factors and premature mortality, even after controlling for other background characteristics of the deceased person. Further, age, standard of living index (SLI), literacy composition, religion, household type and region of residence are some important determinants of adult mortality in India.     

The Effects of Inter-generational Support on the Mortality of Older People in Rural China

As inter-generational support is the primary source of support for the Chinese elderly in rural areas, such support is likely to affect their physical and psychological health. This paper investigates the effects of four types of inter-generational support on the mortality risk of the elderly in Anhui Province. Results showed that mortality risk was influenced significantly only by receiving household support. Financial support and personal care had no effect. Results also indicated that household and emotional support were effective in reducing mortality when delivered at closer proximity, suggesting that quality of support may be enhanced by co-residence and ready access to children. Conclusions about the health benefits of tangible forms of support need to be tempered by an understanding that poor health predisposes inter-generational co-residence, and that the quality of household assistance and emotional support may be sensitive to the geographic distance between older parents and their adult children in rural China.     

Applying dynamics and comparing life tables for Pleistocene Equidae in anthropic (Bau de l'Aubesier,Combe-Grenal) and carnivore (Fouvent) contexts with modern feral horse populations (Akagera,Pryor Mountain)

In this study, we propose a method based on life tables currently used in population dynamics and ecology to compare the mortality curves of Equidae from anthropic and carnivore fossil assemblages with those from modern populations. The combined analysis of frequency (f_x) with various ecological parameters such as mortality rate (q_x), survival rate (l_x), fecundity rate (m_x), and killing factor (k_x), established for each age class, allows us to characterize the stability of fossil populations. These ecological parameters, developed in demography, correspond to many curves and constitute a complementary approach to interpret the two main mortality models, attritional and catastrophic, often evoked in zooarchaeology. The age structures of fossil horses from the anthropic sites of Bau de l'Aubesier (Vaucluse, France) and Combe-Grenal (Dordogne, France) and the hyena den of Fouvent (Haute-Saône, France) are compared to typical catastrophic modern populations of Equidae from the National Park of Akagera (Rwanda). We also used data collected by the Bureau of Land Management for present day feral horses from Pryor Mountain (Montana, USA) which constitutes a reliable referential of a stable living population. The characterization of age structures in those different contexts is discussed as well as the impact of Neanderthals and hyenas on fossil assemblages.     

Effect of Maternal Mortality on Survival of Under-Five Children

With regards to children who are born shortly before their mother's death (index), the cumulative proportion of survival up to 60 months of age was significantly lower (0.39 vs. 0.81) than those born just before the last child (penultimate) of the same mother. Such a difference is mainly due to high mortality in the first six months of age. Over the period between 1974 and 2005, survival improved among the penultimate but not the index children. For index children, the cumulative proportion of survival up to 60 months of age was significantly higher (0.79 vs. 0.51) if adopted by other households by the age of 15 days compared to those who stayed in their own households. Again for index children, the cumulative proportion of survival up to 60 months of age was significantly higher (0.82 vs. 0.70) for those who stayed in their own households where a grandmother was present compared to the presence of other female household members.