Infant mortality rate rises in USA, first time in 45 years
Main Category: FertilityArticle Date: 11 Feb 2004 - 0:00 PDT
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1.87 (23 votes) |
| Article Opinions: | 2 posts |
For the first time in more than forty years infant mortality in the USA has gone up. One of the main reasons for this is that older women are putting off having babies until they are older. Many are having multiple births as a result of fertility treatment (according to the government).
In 2002, life expectancy in the USA rose to 77.4 (according to the CDC). The year before it was 77.2 .
In 2001 infant mortality was 6.8 deaths per thousand. A year later (2002) it rose to 7 per thousand.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were surprised at the results. They last time infant mortality in the USA went up was in 1958.
Joyce Martin, a leading statistician at the CDC said 'We were surprised because it has been declining fairly steadily for more than four decades, you're always concerned when an important indicator in public health increases.'
This rise could be a one off. It looks as though 2003 will continue to see a fall (says CDC).
Martin said that as women delay motherhood we could be seeing a rise in the infant mortality rate.
If a women put off having a baby until they are 30 or 40 (or more) there will be more babies with birth defects and complications.
More older women use fertility drugs to get pregnant (more than younger women). This leads to more multiple births. Multiple births carry a higher risk of complications and low birthweight.
In the year 2002 more than half of multiple births were born preterm or the baby was underweight.
Visit our fertility section for the latest news on this subject.
MLA
15 Feb. 2012. <http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/5846.php>
APA
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/5846.php.
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Visitor Opinions In Chronological Order (2)
Possible, But Unlikely
posted by Robin on 15 Jan 2009 at 6:01 amI have no real doubt that both the increased age of childbearing and the higher use of fertility treatment may lead to higher rates of complications and thus higher infant mortality rates among the general population, I doubt that this is the major cause of the troubling trend. I suspect that women that can afford fertility treatment can also afford life-saving treatment for their infants. Until results that controls for traditionally important factors such as education levels, ethnic indicators and health insurance status-as well as age, are reported I will remain skeptical as to the magnitude of the effect of age and use of fertility treatment alone.
C-section rate rises
posted by Meghan on 24 Mar 2011 at 2:08 pmI can agree that older age has a part to play in infant mortality rates, but I do not believe it is the main cause. Let's look at the fact that currently 98% of women are choosing to have their babies in the hospital under surgeons care who highly recommend multiple drugs during childbirth! Also, c-sections have jumped from 4.5% in 1965 to over 30% currently in 2011 in the USA.
"Recent studies reaffirm earlier World Health Organization recommendations about optimal cesarean section rates. The best outcomes for mothers and babies appear to occur with cesarean section rates of 5% to 10%. Rates above 15% seem to do more harm than good" (Althabe and Belizan 2006).
oh and just to give you a comparison, in the early 1900's 95% of births occurred at home! And though the infant mortality rates were high back then, it was not from birth itself, it was from lack of food or proper shelter!! Not from "unexplained" health problems at birth.
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