Other News Infant mortality higher in the US than 28 other countries
By Ben Wasserman
Oct 16, 2008 - 8:29:41 AM
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The United States Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention yesterday on Oct 15 2008 published a new report saying that infant
mortality has not changed during the period of 2005 and 2006 in the United
States.
The CDC says on its website that the death rate decreased
in early years in the U.S.
According to
the report, the US ranked 29th in the world in infant mortality in 2004,
compared to 27th in 2000, 23rd in 1990 and 12th in 1960.
The new report from CDC's National Center for Health
Statistics says the U.S. infant mortality rate was 6.78 infant deaths per 1,000
live births in 2004, the latest year that data are available for all countries.
Infant mortality rates were generally lowest (below 3.5
per 1,000) in selected Scandinavian (Sweden, Norway, Finland) and East Asian
(Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore) countries.
Twenty-two countries had infant mortality rates below 5.0
in 2004.
Although there is not much, there was a significant 2
percent decline in the infant mortality between 2005 and 2006.
The report also reveals other findings including:
* The current
U.S. infant mortality rate is about 50 percent higher than the national goal of
4.5 infant deaths per 1,000 births.
* The infant
mortality rate for non-Hispanic black women was 2.4 times the rate for
non-Hispanic white women. In 2005, the infant mortality rate for non-Hispanic
black women was 13.63 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, compared to a rate
of 5.76 for non-Hispanic white women. Rates were also higher for Puerto Rican
and American Indian women, 8.30 and 8.06 respectively.
* Increases in
preterm birth and preterm-related infant mortality account for much of the lack
of decline in the United States′
infant mortality rate from 2000 to 2005.