Indian mortality rates still high, according to CDC
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Filed Under:
Health
The infant mortality rate among American Indian and Alaska
Native women has not changed significantly
in the past 10 years, according to data released on Wednesday.
In 2004, there were 8.45 deaths per 1,000 live births among
Native women, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
reported. That's higher than the national average and
the second-highest infant mortality rate among all women.
Furthermore, the rate hasn't changed much in the past decade.
Since 1995, infant mortality among Native women has dropped
about 6.5 percent.
In comparison, the infant mortality rate dropped
by 10.2 percent among White women and by 11.5 percent
among Hispanic women.
Among women of all racial and ethnic groups, the rate
has fallen 10.4 percent in the last decade or so.
"During this 9-year period, decreases have been observed for all
race and ethnic groups, although not all had significant declines,"
the CDC said, excluding Native American women from the "significant"
list.
Going by state, South Dakota had an extremely high rate of Indian
infant mortality. It was 13.51 per 1,000 live births, or nearly
twice the national average, based on data from 2002-2044.
High rates were also reported in Oregon (11.07);
Washington (10.53); North Carolina (11.10); and New York (11.03)
and Alaska (9.41);
Lower rates were reported in Oklahoma (7.81); New Mexico (6.96) and
California (6.29).
A second report found that pre-term infant deaths were up slightly
in 2004. Native women are less likely to experience
pre-term deaths, according to the data.
Risk factors for infant mortality include birthweight, period of
gestation, age of mother and smoking.
Native women in the Plains, the Pacific Northwest and Alaska report
higher use of tobacco than their counterparts in the Southwest
and Oklahoma.
The leading cause of infant mortality in 2004 was
congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities.
This accounted for 20 percent of all infant deaths, according to the CDC.
Disorders relating to short gestation and low birthweight was
the second leading cause, followed by Sudden infant death syndrome,
or SIDS.
Going by race, infant mortality rates from congenital
malformations were 57 percent higher for Native women, the CDC said.
Additionally, SIDS rates were 1.9 times higher for Native women.
Finally, 8 percent of Native infant mortality cases were due to
unintentional injuries.
"Thus, if American Indian infant mortality rates for these three causes
could be reduced to non-Hispanic white levels, the difference
in the infant mortality rate between American Indian and
non-Hispanic white mothers would be reduced by 51 percent," the report said.
The Indian Health Care Improvement Act bills pending in Congress lists
SIDS prevention as one of the areas in which tribes would have greater
flexibility to deliver services.
CDC Reports:
Infant Mortality Statistics from the 2004 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set |
Trends in Preterm-Related Infant Mortality by Race and Ethnicity: United States, 1999-2004 |
Press Release
Relevant Links:
National Center for Health Statistics, CDC -
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs
Indian Health Service -
http://www.ihs.gov National
Indian Health Board -
http://www.nihb.org
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