Illness and mortality have social origins, and infants and children are especially susceptible to the impacts of adverse social experiences. Early-life stress (ELS) – physiological disruptions suffered by a developing organism – is incorporated into human biology through embodiment. This paper examines whether children who lived and died in New Mexico (2011–2019) embodied social determinants of health. Data were collected from 780 postmortem computed tomography scans in conjunction with data from field notes and autopsy reports for individuals aged 0.5–20.99 years from New Mexico. Variables included in linear/logistic regressions are the per cent of families in poverty by ZIP code and year, housing type (trailer/mobile home, apartment, house), rural/urban residence areas, and race/ethnicity. Health outcome variables are age at death, respiratory conditions, growth stunting and arrest, and porous cranial lesions. Intersections of poverty, housing disparities, and race/ethnicity are examined to understand whether children from New Mexico incorporated ELS into their biology.

Hispanic children have higher odds of growth stunting than non-Hispanic White children. Native American children die younger and have higher odds of respiratory diseases and porous lesions than Hispanic and non-Hispanic Whites. Rural/urban location does not significantly impact age at death, but housing type does. Individuals who lived in trailers/mobile homes had earlier ages at death. When intersections between housing type and housing location are considered, children who were poor and from impoverished areas lived longer than those who were poor from relatively well-off areas.

Children’s health is shaped by factors outside their control. The children included in this study embodied experiences of social and ELS and did not survive to adulthood. They provide the most sobering example of the harm that social factors (structural racism/discrimination, socioeconomic, and political structures) can inflict.

Advances in surgical techniques and post-operative management of children with CHD have significantly lowered mortality rates. Unplanned cardiac interventions are a significant complication with implications on morbidity and mortality.

We conducted a single-centre retrospective case–control study for patients (<18 years) undergoing cardiac surgery for repair of Tetralogy of Fallot between January 2009 and December 2019. Data included patient characteristics, operative variables and outcomes. This study aimed to assess the incidence and risk factors for reintervention of Tetralogy of Fallot after cardiac surgery. The secondary outcome was to examine the incidence of long-term morbidity and mortality in those who underwent unplanned reinterventions.

During the study period 29 patients (6.8%) underwent unplanned reintervention, and were matched to 58 patients by age, weight and sex. Median age was 146 days, and median weight was 5.8 kg. Operative mortality was 7%, and 1-year survival was 86% for the entire cohort (cases and controls). Hispanic patients were more likely to have reinterventions (p = 0.04) in the unadjusted analysis, while Asian, Pacific Islander and Native American (p = 0.01) in the multi-variate analysis. Patients that underwent reintervention were more likely to have post-op arrhythmia, genetic syndromes and higher operative and 1-year mortality (p < 0.05).

Unplanned cardiac interventions following Tetralogy of Fallot repair are common, and associated with increased operative, and 1-year mortality. Race, genetic syndromes and post-operative arrhythmia are associated with increased odds of unplanned reinterventions. Future studies are needed to identify modifiable risk factors to minimise unplanned reinterventions.