Does early baptism matter? Neonatal mortality in Veneto region: 1816-1866

This paper has two objectives: to present a detailed demographic analysis of the changing patterns of neonatal mortality in the rural parishes of Veneto region during the first demographic transition, and to provide a definitive answer to the unresolved debate of impact of baptismal practices on mortality.
The analysis is developed using data related to children born between
1816 and 1866 in rural and urban parishes of the province of Padua. Such unpublished information come from asburgical parochial archives found in reference parishes.
Cox proportional-hazards regression models investigate the risk of dying during the week after baptism. A specific analysis has been computed using data on
baptism, to understand if the risk of dying of a child increases with the rising of
time spend from birth to baptism.
A strong relation between seasonality and death emerges from
models. Neonatal mortality reaches its peaks during winter season. Environmental
factors seem to have an impact on death: the parish of birth clearly confirms differences in the risk of dying. While we can affirm the presence of interaction
between baptismal practices and seasonality on explain risk of dying, we can only provide tentative results on the effect of baptismal practices on risk of death.