Season of birth, stillbirths, and neonatal mortality in Sweden: the Sami and non-Sami population, 1800–1899

• Published in: International Journal of Circumpolar Health
• Main Authors: Lena Karlsson, Erling Häggström Lundevaller, Barbara Schumann
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2019
• Subjects: neonatal mortality; season of birth; indigenous population; sweden; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic; Circumpolar Health; International Journal of Circumpolar Health; sami; Subarctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1080/22423982.2019.1629784; https://doaj.org/article/c99d2b1924d343b599cf0fdc0eb5728b

Seasonal patterns of neonatal mortality and stillbirths have been found around the world. However, little is known about the association between season of birth and infant mortality of pre-industrial societies in a subarctic environment. In this study, we compared how season of birth affected the neonatal and stillbirth risk among the Sami and non-Sami in Swedish Sápmi during the nineteenth century. Using digitised parish records from the Demographic Data Base at Umeå University, we applied logistic regression models for estimating the association of season of birth with stillbirths and neonatal mortality, respectively. Higher neonatal mortality was found among the winter- and autumn-born Sami, compared to summer-born infants. Stillbirth risk was higher during autumn compared to summer among the Sami, whereas we found no seasonal differences in mortality among the non-Sami population. We relate the higher neonatal mortality risk among winter-born Sami to differences in seasonality of living conditions associated with reindeer herding.