Epidemiologic transition in an isolated indigenous community in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico

• Published in: American journal of physical anthropology 2008-09, Vol.137 (1), p.69-81
• Main Authors: Malina, Robert M., Peña Reyes, Maria Eugenia, Little, Bertis B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Anthropology. Demography; Biological and medical sciences; Biological anthropology; Cause of Death - trends; Child; Child, Preschool; Chronic Disease - epidemiology; Chronic Disease - mortality; Communicable Diseases - epidemiology; Communicable Diseases - mortality; demographic transition; Demography; Diseases; Epidemiology; Female; gastrointestinal disease; Health Transition; Human physiology applied to population studies and life conditions. Human ecophysiology; Humans; Indigenous populations; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Male; Medical anthropology; Medical sciences; Mexico; Mexico - epidemiology; Middle Aged; Mortality; Mortality - trends; Nutrition Disorders - epidemiology; Nutrition Disorders - mortality; nutritional status; Oaxaca; Physical anthropology; Pregnancy; prereproductive mortality; Public Health - statistics & numerical data; seasonal variation; Seasons; secular trends; Socioeconomic Factors
• ISSN: 0002-9483; 1096-8644
• DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.20847

The objective of the present study is to analyze age‐specific mortality in a rural indigenous community in the throes of a secular increase in size in the Valley of Oaxaca, southern Mexico, over 30 years, 1970–1999. Variation in mortality by age group was analyzed over time for evidence of an epidemiological transition. The seasonal rain pattern in the Valley of Oaxaca (83% from May through September) was evaluated for its relationship with mortality in wet and dry months. Mortality and causes of death changed markedly over the 30‐year interval. Infant and preschool mortality, overall mortality, and causes of death changed from the 1970s through the 1990s. Prereproductive deaths (