2021 to 2022 Saw 3 Percent Increase in Infant Mortality Rate in U.S.

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 1, 2023 (HealthDay News) — From 2021 to 2022, there was a 3 percent increase in the infant mortality rate in the United States, according to a November Vital Statistics Rapid Release report, a publication from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Danielle M. Ely, Ph.D., and Anne K. Driscoll, Ph.D., from the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, used U.S. linked birth/infant death files to present provisional 2022 data on infant mortality rates.

The researchers found that in 2022, the provisional infant mortality rate for the United States was 5.60 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, which was 3 percent higher than the rate of 5.44 in 2021. From 2021 to 2022, there was a 3 percent increase in the neonatal mortality rate (from 3.49 to 3.58) and a 4 percent increase in the postneonatal mortality rate (from 1.95 to 2.02). Among infants of American Indian and Alaska Native non-Hispanic and White non-Hispanic women, mortality rates increased significantly (7.46 to 9.06 and 4.36 to 4.52, respectively). Infant mortality rates increased significantly for infants of women ages 25 to 29 years, from 5.15 in 2021 to 5.37 in 2020. Mortality rates also increased significantly for total preterm and early preterm infants, for male infants, and in four states (Georgia, Iowa, Missouri, and Texas). For two of the 10 leading causes of death (maternal complications and bacterial sepsis), mortality rates increased.

“Although not statistically significant, rates generally increased for most other race and Hispanic origin, maternal age, and gestational age groups, as well as for female infants, in a majority of states, and for three of the 10 leading causes of death,” the authors write.

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