Record number of babies born in 2005,
but N.C. infant mortality rate remains steady
[For a full set of Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) data tables, see www.schs.state.nc.us/SCHS/deaths/ims/2005]
RALEIGH— More babies were born in 2005 to North Carolina residents
than ever before—123,040 births were recorded for the year. The
state’s infant mortality rate was 8.8 deaths per 1,000 live births
in 2005, the same as the previous year.
Of the 123,040 live births last year, 70,293 (57.1 percent) were white
non-Hispanic; 28,146 (22.9 percent) were black non-Hispanic; 19,512
(15.9 percent) were Hispanic; 1,661 (1.3 percent) were American Indian
non-Hispanic; and 3,428 (2.8 percent) were other races/ethnicities.
The minority infant mortality rate dropped by 4.5 percent, from a rate
of 15.6 deaths per 1,000 births in 2004 to 14.9 in 2005. However, the
minority rate is still more than double the white rate—the 2005
white infant mortality rate was 6.4, a slight increase from the 2004
rate of 6.2.
Prematurity and low birth weight accounted for 20 percent of deaths
of infants under 1 year old, and for 28 percent of the deaths of babies
under 28 days old. Almost 17 percent of the 2005 infant deaths were
due to birth defects. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, accounted
for nearly 10 percent of the deaths.
“
The health of women before, during and even after pregnancy has a big
impact on infant mortality rates,” said State Health Director
Leah Devlin. “High-quality prenatal care, while essential to
good birth outcomes, cannot compensate for a lifetime of poor health,
for unhealthy behaviors such as smoking or poor nutrition or poor physical
fitness, and for limited access to ongoing high-quality health care.
Healthy women tend to have healthier babies.”
“
In North Carolina, childhood poverty rates are substantially higher
than in the nation as a whole,” Devlin said. “Many people
lack health insurance or are under-insured. We have high rates of heart
disease, stroke, diabetes, obesity, and other chronic health problems.
Our per capita spending for public health is among the lowest in the
nation.”
Infant mortality rates have improved dramatically over the past 30
years in North Carolina, declining 52.4 percent since 1975, when 18.5
out of 1,000 babies died. The rate reached an all-time low of 8.2 infant
deaths per 1,000 live births in 2002 and 2003. North Carolina still
has one of the nation’s higher infant mortality rates. Based
on provisional data, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) has ranked the state 45th in infant mortality for 2005.
“
The bottom line is that we all need to be doing much more on the national,
state, local and individual levels to improve people’s health,” Devlin
said. “That’s the only way we can hope to lower our state’s
infant mortality rates and to eliminate the multiple health disparities
that hit our minority populations especially hard.”
After carefully examining North Carolina’s infant mortality during
the past year, the North Carolina Minority Health Advisory Council
and the North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force identified and are
pursuing new interventions to reduce racial disparities and preterm
births that contribute to infant mortality.
Many of North Carolina’s initiatives to reduce infant mortality
are collaborative programs involving a network of local communities,
non-profit agencies, public and private health care providers, and
state and national agencies. For example, the state has four federally
funded Healthy Start grants covering 15 counties. These locally based
programs are now focusing on working with women and their infants for
two years following delivery of the baby, including helping them to
obtain a medical home and to address issues of birth spacing.
More than three out of five pregnancies to low-income women in the
state are unintended or unplanned. Women with unintended pregnancies
are at a higher risk for preterm delivery and other complications.
Reducing the number of unintended pregnancies—and the poorer
pregnancy outcomes associated with them—by providing more accessible
family planning services is a key strategy to reduce infant mortality.
The state’s Medicaid income eligibility for family planning services
was expanded last year to help more people access those services.
Since 1990, a unique public/private partnership between the N.C. Department
of Health and Human Services and the North Carolina Healthy Start Foundation
has been focusing on improving the health of women, babies and young
children by educating the public, training professionals, and advising
policymakers. They address risk factors for infant death or prematurity
such as smoking and stress and promote infant sleep safety through
bilingual messages and materials and the statewide, toll-free NC Family
Health Resource Line (1-800-367-2229).
To address birth defects, one of the leading causes of infant mortality
in the U.S. and in North Carolina, the Division of Public Health is
collaborating with UNC, the national Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), and seven other states on the National Birth Defects
Prevention Study. North Carolina is also one of five states participating
in the national State Infant Mortality Collaborative to develop appropriate
programs and interventions to improve infant mortality.
Nationally, the CDC issued recommendations in April focusing on the
following areas:
- individual responsibility for preconception health;
- call for actions to improve health care services;
- improving preconception care and health for specific
groups of women;
- increased health-care coverage among uninsured, low-income
women;
- the role of public health and community programs; and
- continuous quality improvement and planning.
These recommendations will help guide local, state and national efforts
to reduce infant mortality.
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