It's disgusting and depressing.

Last edited Tue May 7, 2013, 09:15 AM - Edit history (1)

I gotta say, this story makes me sick inside, more than disgusting.

is very close to white, non-Hispanic rates. This despite their poorer socioeconomic status. This is often referred to as the "Hispanic paradox". Infant mortality rates (IMRs) for Puerto Ricans are about 50% higher than white, non-Hispanic IMRs. African American IMRs are actually more than 2x that of white, non-Hispanic rates. Last time I checked it was 2.5x.

The disparity is primarily driven by disparities in preterm birth rates, not birth-weight specific mortality rates. That is, very low birth weight infants born in the U.S. have very good outcomes relative to other countries. It's just that way too many very low birth weight babies are born here in the first place, especially among African American women. The bottom line is we can't "technology our way out" of this. We have to address the broader issues that undermine women's health such as lack of access to effective contraception and health care as well as disparities in economic well-being.

Interesting - albeit disturbing - fact about disparities. The infant mortality rate experienced by infants born to college-educated African American women in the U.S. is higher than for infants born to a white, non-Hispanic woman with less than a high school education. Sad but true.

"Pro-life" my ass....

(professor in maternal and child health, btw)

willing to sacrifice the poor and minorities to anything that resembles a profit or lower taxes. We will, eventually, pay a steep price for our lack of basic humanitarian impulses.

If so they should be the most vocal about this tragedy.

find nothing good in society and wish to destroy all sense of community or social responsibility. They are, ultimately, the tools of the 1%
and those religious extremists who wish to see all of us living in straight jackets of their design.

Exactly.