BACKGROUND: Globally, the under-10 years of age mortality has not been comprehensively studied. We applied the life-course perspective in the analysis and interpretation of the event history demographic and verbal autopsy data to examine when and why children die before their 10th birthday. METHODS: We analysed a decade (2005-2015) of event histories data on 22385 and 1815 verbal autopsies data collected by Iganga-Mayuge HDSS in eastern Uganda. We used the lifetable for mortality estimates and patterns, and Royston-Parmar survival analysis approach for mortality risk factors' assessment. RESULTS: The under-10 and 5-9 years of age mortality probabilities were 129 (95% Confidence Interval [CI] = 123-370) per 1000 live births and 11 (95% CI = 7-26) per 1000 children aged 5-9 years, respectively. The top four causes of new-born mortality and stillbirth were antepartum maternal complications (31%), intrapartum-related causes including birth injury, asphyxia and obstructed labour (25%), Low Birth Weight (LBW) and prematurity (20%), and other unidentified perinatal mortality causes (18%). Malaria, protein deficiency including anaemia, diarrhoea or gastrointestinal, and acute respiratory infections were the major causes of mortality among those aged 0-9 years-contributing 88%, 88% and 46% of all causes of mortality for the post-neonatal, child and 5-9 years of age respectively. 33% of all causes of mortality among those aged 5-9 years was a share of Injuries (22%) and gastrointestinal (11%). Regarding the deterministic pattern, nearly 30% of the new-borns and sick children died without access to formal care. Access to the treatment for the top five morbidities was after 4 days of symptoms' recognition. The childhood mortality risk factors were LBW, multiple births, having no partner, adolescence age, rural residence, low education level and belonging to a poor household, but their association was stronger among infants. CONCLUSIONS: We have identified the vulnerable groups at risk of mortality as LBW children, multiple births, rural dwellers, those whose mother are of low socio-economic position, adolescents and unmarried. The differences in causes of mortalities between children aged 0-5 and 5-9 years were noted. These findings suggest for a strong life-course approach in the design and implementation of child health interventions that target pregnant women and children of all ages.

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