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What can we do to lower the incidence of infant deaths? Joyce and Robin speak with Dr. Robert Ford, a retired obstetrician/gynecologist (OB/GYN) from West Memphis, Arkansas, now living in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. Ford shares his insights into this problem, which is highest in the Southern states.
Unfortunately, about 24,000 infants died in the United States in 2011. The loss of a baby remains a sad reality for many families and takes a serious toll on the health and well-being of families, as well as the nation.
The death of a baby before his or her first birthday is called infant mortality. The infant mortality rate is an estimate of the number of infant deaths for every 1,000 live births. This rate is often used as an indicator to measure the health and well-being of a nation, because factors affecting the health of entire populations can also impact the mortality rate of infants. There are obvious differences in infant mortality by age, race, and ethnicity; for instance, the mortality rate for non-Hispanic black infants is more than twice that of non-Hispanic white infants.
What are the Causes?
Fortunately, most newborns grow and thrive. However, for every 1,000 babies that are born, six die during their first year.1 Most of these babies die because they are—
- Born with a serious birth defect.
- Born too small and too early (i.e., preterm birth; birth before 37 weeks gestation).
- Victims of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
- Affected by maternal complications of pregnancy.
- Victims of injuries (e.g., suffocation).
These top five leading causes of infant mortality together account for 58% of all infant deaths in the United States in 2011. According to the World Health Organization, in 2013, 4.6 million (74% of all under-five deaths) occurred within the first year of life.
Infant mortality rate for children in the poorest 20% urban households is about twice as high as that among children in the richest 20% urban households, globally.
The risk of a child dying before completing the first year of age was highest in the WHO African region (60 per 1000 live births), about five times higher than that in the WHO European region (11 per 1000 live births).
Based on 2011 statistics, Singapore and Iceland had the lowest incidence of infant deaths in the world, followed by a number of European Countries. In 2010 the United States ranked 34th, on a par with Cuba, Slovakia, and Hungary. In 2014 the CIA World Factbook ranks the U.S. 55th internationally, with a rate of 6.17.
Economic expenditures on prenatal, delivery, and neonatal care are relatively high in the United States. A conventional birth averages $9,775 USDollars with a C-section costing $15,041 USDollars. Preterm births in the U.S. have been estimated to cost $51,600 USD per child, with a total yearly cost of $26.2 billion USD. Despite this spending, several reports state that infant mortality rate in the United States is significantly higher than in other developed nations.
Sources:
World Health Organization
U.S. Center for Disease Control
Wikipedia
CDC statistics by state
Access data table for map
