Tb. Gage et G. Therriault, VARIABILITY OF BIRTH-WEIGHT DISTRIBUTIONS BY SEX AND ETHNICITY - ANALYSIS USING MIXTURE-MODELS, Human biology, 70(3), 1998, pp. 517-534
Birth weight is the most important proximate determinant of the level
of infant mortality. However, the association between birth weight and
infant mortality is not constant among populations. For example, the
mortality of African American infants is lower at low birth weight but
higher at high birth weight compared with European American infants.
One possible explanation is that birth cohorts are heterogeneous even
after controlling for birth weight, ethnicity, sex, and multiple birth
s. The analyses presented hen use Gaussian mixture models to explore t
he interpopulation variation in the shape of the birth-weight distribu
tion for evidence of intrapopulation heterogeneity. The results sugges
t that a two-component mixture model provides an excellent description
of human birth-weight distributions. Further statistical analyses of
sex and ethnic differences indicate (1) that the birth-weight distribu
tions and heterogeneity within the distribution vary between the sexes
and among ethnic groups and (2) that one specific component is more c
losely associated with the overall level of infant mortality. The resu
lts support the hypothesis that birth cohorts can consist of two or mo
re subpopulations at differential risk of mortality. Differences in th
e subpopulation composition of birth cohorts (i.e., differences in the
level of heterogeneity among the various ethnic groups) might partial
ly explain the interethnic variation in birth-weight-specific mortalit
y. Further development of these mixture models should provide importan
t additional information concerning the biological, environmental, and
social determinants of birth weight and infant mortality.