Volume 31 - Article 42 | Pages 1275–1296  

Maternal longevity is associated with lower infant mortality

By Graziella Caselli, Enrica Lapucci, Rosa Maria Lipsi, Lucia Pozzi, Giovannella Baggio, Ciriaco Carru, Luca Deiana, Claudio Franceschi, James W. Vaupel

Abstract

Objective: Referring to the multidisciplinary and multipurpose survey AKeA2, and focusing on family genealogy data on centenarian women and controls, this paper aims to verify the hypothesis that maternal longevity is associated with lower infant mortality in offspring, after having controlled for fertility characteristics, familial longevity and some contextual variables.

Methods: The association between the longevity of a mother and her children's infant mortality level was assessed using a multivariate Poisson Regression Model with robust estimates, which is suitable for estimating consistently and efficiently the relative risk when binary data are used.

Results: Our results show an association between longevity and infant mortality among the children of the Sardinians who survived to become centenarians. Infant mortality is significantly lower for children belonging to a mother born and living in Sassari and Oristano than Nuoro, close to each other and both located on the Western coast.

Author's Affiliation

• Graziella Caselli - Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Italy EMAIL
• Enrica Lapucci - Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Italy EMAIL
• Rosa Maria Lipsi - Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT), Italy EMAIL
• Lucia Pozzi - Università degli Studi di Sassari (UniSS), Italy EMAIL
• Giovannella Baggio - Università degli Studi di Padova (UNIPD), Italy EMAIL
• Ciriaco Carru - Università degli Studi di Sassari (UniSS), Italy EMAIL
• Luca Deiana - Università degli Studi di Sassari (UniSS), Italy EMAIL
• Claudio Franceschi - Università di Bologna (UNIBO), Italy EMAIL
• James W. Vaupel - Syddansk Universitet, Denmark EMAIL

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