Infant Mortality Statistics from the 1999 Period: Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set

Abstract

Objectives-This report presents 2004 period infant mortality statistics from the linked birth/infant death data file by a variety of maternal and infant characteristics.The linked file differs from the mortality file, which is based entirely on death certificate data.Methods-Descriptive tabulations of data are presented and inter preted.Excluding rates by cause of death, the infant mortality rate is now published with two decimal places.Results-The U.S. infant mortality rate was 6.78 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2004 compared with 6.84 in 2003.Infant mortality rates ranged from 4.67 per 1,000 live births for Asian and Pacific 2 percent of infants born at less than 32 weeks of gestation.Still, infant mortality rates for late preterm (34-36 weeks of gestation) infants were three times those for term (37-41 week) infants.The three leading causes of infant death-Congenital malformations, low birthweight, and SIDS-taken together accounted for 45 percent all infant deaths.Results from a new analysis of preterm-related causes of death show that 36.5 percent of infant deaths in 2004 were due to preterm-related causes.The preterm-related infant mortality rate for non-Hispanic black mothers was 3.5 times higher, and the rate for Puerto Rican mothers was 75 percent higher than for non-Hispanic white mothers.