About the Live Birth/Infant Death Cohort Dataset The purpose of the Live Birth/Infant Death Cohort module is to generate interactive statistics and maps of infant mortality, surviving live births, and all live births data. The intended audience is researchers, public health officials, students, and the general public. The linked birth and infant death data set is a valuable tool for monitoring and exploring the complex interrelationships between infant death and risk factors present at birth. In the linked birth and infant death dataset, the information from the death certificate is linked to the information from the birth certificate for each infant death under 1 year of age. The purpose of the linkage is to use the many additional variables available from the birth certificate to conduct more detailed analyses of infant mortality patterns. The linked files include information from the birth certificate such as age, race, and Hispanic origin of the parents, birthweight, period of gestation, plurality, prenatal care usage, maternal education, live birth order, marital status, and maternal smoking, linked to information from the death certificate such as age at death, and cause of death. All data is drawn directly from and/or derived using of the South Carolina resident live birth file. The infant mortality rates for indicators originating from the birth certificate data are calculated by taking the number of deaths with that characteristic over the number of live births with that same characteristic. For example the infant mortality rate of mother's less than 18 would be: the annual number of deaths to mothers less than 18 over the annual live births to mothers less than 18. Infant mortality rates for the causes of death are per 100,000 annual live births. The causes of death data present a challenge in this module due to the changes in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) in 1999. Since the rankable causes of infant death change with each edition of ICD codes. Deaths that occurred in 1998 may be classified slightly differently than deaths that occurred in 1999 even though the birth year may be the same. Both the ICD9 and ICD10 codes that were used in the classification of each disease are placed next to the cause of death. Users can however select tables, trendlines, and bar charts allow for all years of data. A new feature that is specific to this module is the ability to generate relative risks with 95% confidence intervals, which allows users to generate the relative risk of an infant death specific to their selection and receive the correct interpretation of the relative risk all 'on-the-fly'. An example page with specific instructions and additional details is available by clicking here:(Cohort Relative Risk Calculation Page). In addition, users can generate 'on-the-fly' maps and tables of the frequencies, rates, and percentages along with trendlines and bar charts of the selected data. When rates have been selected, 95% Confidence intervals (CI) can also be generated in the tables. The interpretation of tables and maps is the user's responsibility. Many supporting pages are provided with definitions, examples of rate calculations, the Division of Biostatistics and Health GIS contact information, and frequently asked questions (FAQ)to assist the user in interpreting this data. Rates with small numbers are unreliable and should be used cautiously. Example Differences Between Infant Mortality and Live Birth/Infant Death Cohort Modules In the Live Birth/Infant Death Cohort Module the numerator consists of deaths to infants born in 1999 whether the death occurred in 1999 or 2000. As compared to the Infant Mortality module, where the numerator consists of all infant deaths occurring in 1999 that have been linked to their corresponding birth certificates, whether the birth occurred in 1998 or in 1999. The denominator for both files is the 1999 birth file, which contains all South Carolina Resident births occurring in 1999. The release of linked file data in two different formats allows the Division of Biostatistics and Health GIS to meet customer demands for more timely linked files while still meeting the needs of data users who prefer the birth cohort format. While the birth cohort format has methodological advantages, it creates substantial delays in data availability, since it is necessary to wait until the close of the following data year to include all infant deaths to the birth cohort. The Infant Mortality Module is the basis for all official Infant Mortality statistics.