The CDC reports in Recent Trends in Infant Mortality in the United States that,
"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."And in another paper, Trends in Preterm-Related Infant Mortality by Race and Ethnicity: United States, 1999-2004, they present this data:
This clearly shows significant differences in infant mortality between mothers of different ethnic/racial backgrounds: Non-hispanic black women have the highest rate of infant mortality, followed by Native American Indian and Puerto Rican women.
While I think that it is important to look at these data through a racial/ethnic filter, I think that a more interesting and telling analysis would be to look at it in terms of annual income. I think that there will be a much stronger correlation between income and infant mortality than race and infant mortality. The tragic reality in our nation though, is that one can often act as a proxy for the other...
Again, if anyone has any good data linking socioeconomic status to infant mortality, I'd like to see it!
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3 comments:
Two great reads on this topic: Michael Marmot's book, "The Status Syndrome." And, the Sep/Oct 2007 edition of Health Affairs, if you have access to it. Both speak to the issue of SES/income and health status, and Marmot's book is a particularly well-researched and compelling read. I can't recall right now whether they specifically address infant mortality rates, but they are thought-provoking reads nonetheless.
Nathan
Hi Jon,
Can you tell me what happened to Colleen's blog access? And how do I contact someone to get access? I can't find in google a place that identifies a phone number to talk to a real person. Thanks, Colleen's mom, Sharon
Hey Sharon,
I'm guessing that Colleen set her blog page to a private setting, where you have to be invited to view it. I would recommend shooting her an email to see how you can get access to it. Let me know if that helps!
Jon
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