Biocultural and social determinants of ill health and early mortality in a New Mexican paediatric autopsy sample

Lexi O'Donnell; John J Green; Ethan C Hill; Michael J O'Donnell Jr

doi:10.1017/S0021932024000129

Biocultural and social determinants of ill health and early mortality in a New Mexican paediatric autopsy sample

J Biosoc Sci. 2024 Apr 15:1-22. doi: 10.1017/S0021932024000129. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Lexi O'Donnell^{1

2}, John J Green³, Ethan C Hill⁴, Michael J O'Donnell Jr⁵

Affiliations

¹ College of Population Health, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
² Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
³ Southern Rural Development Center and Department of Agricultural Economics, Mississippi State University, Starkville, USA.
⁴ Division of Physical Therapy, Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
⁵ Bureau of Business and Economic Research, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA.

PMID: 38618934
DOI: 10.1017/S0021932024000129

Abstract

Results.: Hispanic children have higher odds of growth stunting than non-Hispanic White children. Native American children die younger and have higher odds of respiratory diseases and porous lesions than Hispanic and non-Hispanic Whites. Rural/urban location does not significantly impact age at death, but housing type does. Individuals who lived in trailers/mobile homes had earlier ages at death. When intersections between housing type and housing location are considered, children who were poor and from impoverished areas lived longer than those who were poor from relatively well-off areas.

Conclusions.: Children's health is shaped by factors outside their control. The children included in this study embodied experiences of social and ELS and did not survive to adulthood. They provide the most sobering example of the harm that social factors (structural racism/discrimination, socioeconomic, and political structures) can inflict.

Keywords: early-life stress; housing type; inequity; morbidity and mortality; postmortem computed tomography; rural/urban; social determinants of health.