BACKGROUND: Infant mortality rates are reliable indices of the child and general population health status and health care delivery. The most critical factors affecting infant mortality are socioeconomic status and ethnicity. The aim of this study was to assess the association between socioeconomic disadvantage, ethnicity, and perinatal, neonatal, and infant mortality in Slovakia before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: The associations between socioeconomic disadvantage (educational level, long-term unemployment rate), ethnicity (the proportion of the Roma population) and mortality (perinatal, neonatal, and infant) in the period 2017-2022 were explored, using linear regression models. RESULTS: The higher proportion of people with only elementary education and long-term unemployed, as well as the higher proportion of the Roma population, increases mortality rates. The proportion of the Roma population had the most significant impact on mortality in the selected period between 2017 and 2022, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2022). CONCLUSIONS: Life in segregated Roma settlements is connected with the accumulation of socioeconomic disadvantage. Persistent inequities between Roma and the majority population in Slovakia exposed by mortality rates in children point to the vulnerabilities and exposures which should be adequately addressed by health and social policies.

• Klíčová slova
• Ethnicity, Infant mortality, Neonatal mortality, Perinatal mortality, Roma, Socioeconomic disadvantage,
• MeSH
• COVID-19 MeSH
• etnicita statistika a číselné údaje   MeSH
• kojenec MeSH
• kojenecká mortalita * etnologie   trendy   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• novorozenec MeSH
• perinatální mortalita * etnologie   trendy   MeSH
• Romové * statistika a číselné údaje   MeSH
• socioekonomické faktory * MeSH
• socioekonomické nerovnosti ve zdraví MeSH
• těhotenství MeSH
• Check Tag
• kojenec MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• novorozenec MeSH
• těhotenství MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Slovenská republika epidemiologie   MeSH