Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia Island Medical Program, University of Victoria, PO Box 1700 STN CSC, Victoria, BC, V8W 2Y2, Canada.
The northern territory Nunavut has Canada's largest jurisdictional land mass with 33,322 inhabitants, of which 85% self-identify as Inuit. Nunavut has rates of infant mortality, postneonatal mortality and hospitalisation of infants for respiratory infections that greatly exceed those for the rest of Canada. The infant mortality rate in Nunavut is 3 times the national average, and twice that of the neighbouring territory, the Northwest Territories. Nunavut has the largest Inuit population in Canada, a population which has been identified as having high rates of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and infant deaths due to infections.
To determine the causes and potential risk factors of infant mortality in Nunavut, we reviewed all infant deaths (