# Global Age Patterns of Under-Five Mortality

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · 2021 · $607,537

## Abstract

Project Summary
The Under-5 Mortality Rate (U5MR) is a key and widely-used indicator of child health, but it conceals
important information about how this mortality is distributed by age. For better understanding and monitoring
of child health, it is critical to examine how the risk of death varies within the 0-5 age range. This includes age
breakdowns beyond the standard cut-off points of 28 days (for neonatal mortality) and 1 year (for infant
mortality). In many populations, however, the age pattern of under-5 mortality is not well known. Less-
developed countries, in particular, lack the high-quality detailed vital registration information necessary for the
analysis of such age patterns. Sample surveys collecting retrospective birth histories do not satisfactorily fill
this gap, because they are subject to systematic biases that are particularly consequential for estimating age
patterns. This makes the need for high-quality information on age patterns of under-5 mortality even more
critical, because regularities in these age patterns can be used as a powerful tool for evaluating and correcting
data when sources are deficient. The goal of this project is to improve our understanding of age patterns of
under-5 mortality by gathering the largest database to date on high-quality global mortality information by
detailed age (by days, weeks, months, and years of age) from birth until age 5, by sex. This database, which will
cover a wide array of historical and contemporary contexts in both more- and less-developed settings, will
serve as a basis for generating models summarizing regularities about how under-5 mortality is distributed by
detailed age in human populations. These models will then be used for evaluating and correcting under-5
mortality information by detailed age in less-developed countries. This global database, and models derived
from it, will also allow us to address specific substantive questions about how and why age patterns of under-5
mortality vary by sex, time, and place, with important programmatic implications. This database will be made
publicly-available, allowing the research community to easily access high-quality primary information on
under-5 mortality by detailed age for their own research needs, and for further validation and replication of the
project's results.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10212428
- **Project number:** 5R01HD090082-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- **Principal Investigator:** MICHEL GUILLOT
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $607,537
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-19 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10212428

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10212428, Global Age Patterns of Under-Five Mortality (5R01HD090082-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10212428. Licensed CC0.

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