U.S. Babies Die at Higher Rate

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Health/GlobalHealth/story?id=1266515

Infant Mortality Rates Are Rising in U.S., While Rates in Other Countries Are Improving
-------------

What's causing the increased death rate among babies in the United States?

While the health of infants in many countries is improving, babies born in the United States now face an increased risk of dying in the first year of life.

-snip-

Engle explained that while a normal, healthy gestation period is 40 weeks, because of the increased number of pre-term deliveries, the gestation period in the United States now averages just 39 weeks. "The 34- to 37-week gestation group has increased over the last 10 years," he said. "There are fewer births after 40 weeks than there were even a few years ago."

-snip-

The rate among African-Americans is nearly double that of the general population: 13.9 versus 7.0. Rates among some other ethnic minorities also tend to be higher: the infant mortality rate among Puerto Ricans is 8.2, and for Native Americans, the rate is 9.1.

"Some of that is due to poverty but it doesn't track perfectly with poverty," said Green. The infant mortality rate among Central and South American immigrants, for example, is only 5.1.
-snip-
------------------------------

pollution

we are the most polluted country

the bushgang has eliminated a lot of the pollution regulations

the bushgang has practiced domestic abuse on our health care system. it has crashed.

and how sucessfully they've sucked the life from us so they can be fat. They obviously are ignoring "cast your bread ...."

deliveries and higher breastfeeding rates. The way babies are deliverd in this country has more to do with malpractice insurance than science.

What kills more babies? Abortion or pollution?

I wouldn't call abortion "killing babies." They're very, very different.

Abortion rate in 2000 was at a 20 year low at 246 per 1000 live births. (more recent statistics have not been released, but considering the economic downturn, it's likely that despite the rhetoric, the abortion ratio has gone up during the * administration.) (Stats from CDC at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/)

The infant mortality numbers are 7.0 per 1000 live births. Prematurity and multiple births are risk factors for mortality, and both of those factors are on the rise. However, if abortion wasn't possible, the infant mortality rate would be higher because babies would die of neglect/failure to thrive.

I think it would be good ammo to have if you could factually state something like, "Only X out of Y babies are aborted, but environmental pollution and poverty creates z-times as many babies miscarried, stillborn, or profoundly/morbidly deformed."

Usually, that's due to a failure of the genetic recombination, and some of those may be related to pollution and poverty. The national profound birth defect rate is 19 in 1000 live births, and total birth defect rate (including oral clefts and pelvic dislocations - minor issues medically speaking) is 33.4 per 1000 live births.

(CDC stats again.)

Thank you for posting this. I lecture about infant mortality often, and it's shocking how many people are not aware of our abysmal record in infant mortality.

A few thoughts on the issue:

-The gap between African Americans and the white/non-hispanic infant mortality rate (IMR) is higher than the overall gap - about 2.5x. That is, black babies are 2.5x as likely to die than white babies.

-Some, but not all, of the disparity between the U.S. and other countries is explained by variations in which births are declared live births vs. fetal deaths for births at the limits of viability. (Fetal deaths don't contribute to the overall IMR).

-Reporting differences don't help us explain why black babies do so poorly in the U.S.

-My theory as to why our IMR is going up now: Over the last 2-3 decades, we have done a good job at reducing birth weight specific mortality rates. That is, we've gotten better at saving small babies through enhanced NICU care. However, we have had NO success at reducing the birth rate for preterm and (especially) very preterm babies. The PTB and VPTB rates are actually on the rise. I think we've reached our limit in reducing IM by reducing birth weight specific mortality. We must focus more efforts on reducing preterm birth.

In terms of root causes, my own philosophy is that we have to look toward addressing root causes of inequality in our country if we are ever to substantially reduce social inequalities in health, of which infant mortality is one of the most sensitive measures. Infant mortality rates are higher and social inequalities in infant mortality are greater when there is greater income inequality. This has been demonstrated with cross national data as well as with data between jurisdictions (i.e., states, cities) in the U.S.

I'm working on my MSW right now. Did a report on this topic last fall.

As my neighbor's bumper sticker says: Everyone does better when EVERYONE does better.

When the WHO reports on infant mortality in the United States, they average ALL Americans together. The inequality and poverty in the predominantly minority communities bring the overall American infant mortality rate down.

And that's by design. With Neocons, there's US and THEM.

Fertility treatments, especially those that result in multiple births, are on the rise and with it so are LBW and ELBW neonates. While fertility treatments and late childbearing are predominately a fad of white wealthy and middle class women, are these have an effect on the trends?

addresses this issue:

Branum, A.M., & Schoenforf, K. (2002). Changing patterns of low birth weight and preterm birth in the United States, 1981-98. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, 16, 8-15.

If I recall the specifics correctly, multiple births have contributed significantly to the rising number of LBW/VLBW births among white women but not among black women. However, even among white women, increases in LBW rates are only partly explained by increasing multiple birth rates. Because African American babies contribute disproportionately to the LBW/VLBW births for the U.S. population over all, that means that the contribution of changes in multiple birth rates to higher rates of LBW/VLBW births at the population level is not that significant.

Interestingly, the 2003 revision of the U.S. standard birth certificate includes items regarding the use of artificial reproductive technology, so in the future it will be possible to examine these questions with a bit more precision than has been possible up to now.

here in LA have had their babies very early. Mine was born at 34 weeks and my best friend had hers at 27 weeks. He was only one pound when he was born and was sent home at 3 pounds! Her sister had her baby at 32 weeks. My friends at work both had their babies at 34 weeks as well. Now most of us only eat organic food because we are aware that our environment is very polluted. Our babies are all fine so far, so at least we are lucky in that respect.

Pollution certainly may have something to do with the high infant mortality rate, but it can't be the only cause. I think education has something to do with it as well and a society that doesn't provide or even talk about affordable daycare for the children of working mothers. When was the last time you heard a politician talk about programs for providing affordable daycare or networks to assist new mothers? How about a society that doesn't require both parents to work just to pay the bills? Or setting up work situations that recognize parents need flexible hours so they can be there for their children? How about affordable housing that doesn't drain more than 25 percent of a couples income into a mortgage?

Everyday I read an article about how a baby has been abandoned or beaten or starved to death. And this is in a country where abortion is legal. If you don't want the baby put them up for adoption. I cannot tell you how many couples I know who are desperate to have a baby and cannot. They would adopt if they could! It breaks my heart to read stories about babies who have died, either from mistreatment, neglect or lack of education or information on alternatives parents can utilize. I wish someone would make a point of bringing this subject up and making it a part of their political platform. But it's considered a women's issue and not given much attention for some reason. Like equal pay for equal work, only it has a tragic consequence. You'd think all those right to lifers would be more concerned about these babies, but somehow they get ignored once they are out of the womb. I guess if you are born to poor or uninformed parents it's your own fault. Why is it that social darwinism is the mantra of those who don't believe in evolution?


Sorry for the rant, but this stuff makes me ill.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091205H.shtml
American industry has been bled dry and it's the industrial decline that above all explains the negligence of a nation confronted with a crisis situation: to manage a natural catastrophe, you don't need sophisticated financial techniques, call options that fall due on such and such a date, tax consultants, or lawyers specialized in funds extortion at a global level, but you do need materiel, engineers, and technicians, as well as a feeling of collective solidarity. A natural catastrophe on national territory confronts a country with its deepest identity, with its capacities for technical and social response. Now, if the American population can very well agree to consume together - the rate of household savings being virtually nil - in terms of material production, of long-term prevention and planning, it has proven itself to be disastrous. The storm has shown the limits of a virtual economy that identifies the world as a vast video game.

<snip>

I'm not making a moral judgment. I focus my analysis on the rot of the whole system. Après l'empire developed theses that in aggregate were quite moderate and which I am tempted to radicalize today. I predicted the collapse of the Soviet system on the basis of the increases in the rates of infant mortality during the 1970-1974 period. Now, the latest figures published on this theme by the United States - those of 2002 - demonstrated the beginning of an upturn in the rates of infant mortality for all the so-called American "races." What is to be deduced from that? First of all, that we should avoid "over-racializing" the interpretation of the Katrina catastrophe and bringing everything back to the Black problem, in particular the disintegration of local society and the problem of looting. That would constitute an ideological game of peek-a-boo. The sacking of supermarkets is only a repetition at the lower echelons of society of the predation scheme that is at the heart of the American social system today.