America’s infant mortality rate has risen for the first time in more than two decades, official data shows.
The all-cause infant mortality rate ticked up three percent from 2021 to 2022, according to provisional figures from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), rising from 5.44 to 5.6 infant deaths per 1,000 births.
Deaths from sepsis saw the sharpest rise, up by 14 percent, followed by those from respiratory problems, up 11 percent and maternal complications, up nine percent.
Experts pointed to a rebound in flu and RSV infections and tightening abortion restrictions from mid-2022 after Roe v Wade was overturned to partially explain the rise.
Pediatricians slammed the figures as ‘shockingly high’, adding that any infant death was ‘one too many’. But statisticians said the data could be a ‘weird blip’ and that more data was needed.
Infant deaths have risen for the first time in more than two decades, provisional data shows (Stock image)
Dr Sandy Chung, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told CNN: ‘We live in a country with significant resources, so the infant mortality rate nad the increase are shockingly high.
‘As pediatricians who help children grow into healthy adults, any death of any child is one too many.
‘The infant mortality rate in this country is unacceptable.’
Danielle Ely, a health statistician at the NCHS, said although the increase seemed small it was the first statistically significant rise since 2001 and 2002.
She added that researchers were not certain whether this was a statistical blip or the start of a concerning trend.
Infant mortality in the US has been trending downward since at least the 1990s, official figures show.
It was initially falling by about three percent per year, but over the last decade the rate of decrease has slowed to below one percent. From 2020 to 2021, the rate remained unchanged at 5.4 infant deaths per 1,000 births.
In numbers, the most recent data showed there were 20,500 infant deaths in 2022 — 610 more than the year before.
A total of 31 states saw a rise in their infant mortality rates, but only four had statistically significant increases — Georgia (up 13 percent), Iowa (up 30 percent), Missouri (up 16 percent) and Texas (up eight percent).
Mortality rates for two of the 10 leading causes of death — maternal complications and sepsis — rose.
By ethnicity, women from American Indian or Alaskan native backgrounds saw their infant mortality rate climb 20 percent in the latest figures.
There was also an uptick of about three percent among white women.
Black women did not see the same increase but they had the highest overall death rates for their infants at 11 deaths per 1,000 births, or double that for white infants.
The U.S. has higher infant and maternal mortality rates than many other wealthy nations — including Canada, Germany, Australia and Japan
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