Latest Infant mortality Stories

March of Dimes supports congressional briefing on infant mortalityVery low birthweight and very preterm infants are more likely to die if they are not born at hospitals with neonatal intensive care units specially equipped to care for seriously ill newborns, in contrast to similar babies born at those specialized facilities."We encourage women who have high risk pregnancies to talk with their health care provider about the care their baby may need after birth and about the appropriate...

Clinical depression and anxiety during pregnancy results in smaller babies that are more likely to die in infancy, according to new research published in the open access journal BMC Public Health. The study, which focused on women living in rural Bangladesh, provides the first finding of its kind in a non-Western population. The research indicates that mental health issues are likely to be a primary contributor to infant mortality and poor child health, above poverty, malnutrition or low...

Statewide Program Significantly Reduces Inappropriate Scheduling of Births before 39 Weeks CINCINNATI, June 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A statewide Ohio program significantly reduced the monthly rate of inappropriately scheduled births before 39 weeks gestation, helping to avoid expensive neonatal intensive care unit admissions and decrease the risk of infant deaths, according to two studies by the Ohio Perinatal Quality Collaborative recently published in the American Journal of...

Researchers reported on Tuesday that the U.S. rate of pre-term births has fallen for the second year in a row. The findings are good news because babies that are born too early and too small are far more likely to die than babies born after a full 39 weeks of gestation. But pre-term birth rates still remain high compared to other developed countries.  Joyce Martin of the National Center for Health Statistics and colleagues said that doctors and officials still must work harder to figure...

Rates Drop for Most States and Ethnic and Gestational-Age Groups WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., May 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For the first time in three decades, the nation - and most states - saw a two-year decline in preterm birth rates, indicating that strategies implemented over the past seven years have begun to pay off, according to the March of Dimes. "In 2003, we began a national campaign to reduce the terrible toll of premature birth because every baby deserves a healthy start in life,"...

New GAPPS Repository of data, tissue specimens will be resource for researchers worldwideA new report issued Feb. 22 identifies the enormous global impact of preterm birth and stillbirth"”and what can be done to decrease it. Globally, an estimated 13 million babies are born preterm each year. Newborn deaths now account for more than 42 percent of mortality in children under the age of five, a rise from 37 percent in the year 2000. Additionally, an estimated 3.2 million are stillborn...

The rate of stillbirths in rural areas of six developing countries fell more than 30 percent following a basic training program in newborn care for birth attendants, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The study tracked more than 120,000 births.The study tested the efficacy of a three-day Essential Newborn Care training regimen that covers basic newborn care techniques, the importance of early breastfeeding, how to keep...

A new study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that premature births are the main reason the United States lags behind most European countries in infant mortality.The U.S. currently ranks 30th in the world in terms of infant mortality "“- more than twice the infant mortality rates of Sweden, Japan, Finland, Norway and the Czech Republic.Roughly 1 in 8 U.S. births are premature, often due to poor care of low-income pregnant women, according to the report.  By...

March of Dimes Calls for Research to Prevent Preterm Birth WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The United States' extraordinarily high number of babies born too soon explains why the nation has an infant death rate significantly higher when compared to Europe, according to a new report from the National Center for Health Statistics. Cutting the U.S. preterm birth rate nearly in half to match Sweden's would lower the US infant mortality rate one-third and mean nearly 8,000...

LOS OLIVOS, Calif., Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- America's infant mortality ranking is 42nd on the world stage placing the U.S. in the company of countries including Guam, Cuba and Croatia. The United States currently sustains over half a million infant deaths per year -- twice as many as the top ten countries of the world. Now, in a powerful new short film by Debby Takikawa of Hana Peace Works, "Reducing Infant Mortality" exposes how the U.S. health care system is failing mothers and babies,...