Infant mortality from congenital malformations in the United States, 1970–1997
Section snippets
Materials and methods
We used two US data sets from the National Center for Health Statistics. The first set included annual reports on infant deaths in the United States for the years 1970 through 1997.1, 2, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 In this data set, race on infant deaths by cause was reported as whites and nonwhites before 1979 and from thereon, whites, blacks, and other. The proportion of blacks among nonwhite live births progressively decreased from 89.4% in 1970 to 84.2% in 1979. This proportion further
Results
In the United States, overall infant mortality decreased by 64.8% from 20.0 per 1000 in 1970 to 7.1 per 1000 live births in 1997. In this same period, infant mortality for congenital malformations declined from 3.0 to 1.6 per 1000 live birth, a decrease of 48.4%. Thus, congenital malformations became a more prominent cause of infant mortality in 1997, 22.1% of all infant deaths, as compared with 15.1% in 1970.
Over the last three decades, three organ systems, the nervous, cardiovascular, and
Discussion
In the last several decades, infant mortality in the United States has fallen dramatically.1, 2 This reduction has been mainly attributed to a remarkable improvement in perinatal care.17, 18 On the other hand, mortality from congenital malformations has declined more slowly and hence, has become an increasingly prominent component of infant mortality.1, 2, 19
Obtaining a complete understanding of the trend in congenital malformations requires ascertainment of data in all pregnancy outcomes for a
References (38)
- et al.
The changing incidence of neural tube defects in Scotland
J Pediatr Surg
(1991) - et al.
AnencephalyChanges in prenatal detection and birth status, 1972 through 1990
Am J Obstet Gynecol
(1994) - et al.
Hypoplastic left heart syndromeEffects of fetal echocardiography on birth prevalence
Lancet
(1991) - et al.
Comparison of women who do and do not have amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling
Lancet
(1995) - National Center for Health Statistics. Vital Statistics of the United States, Vol. I. Natality and Vol. II. Mortality,...
- Hoyert DL, Kochanek KD, Murphy SL. Deaths: Final data for 1997. National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 47, No. 19....
- et al.
The effect of congenital anomalies on mortality risk in white and black infants
Am J Public Health
(1999) - et al.
Mortality among infants with congenital malformations, New York State, 1983 to 1988
Public Health Rep
(1996) - et al.
Leading major congenital malformations among minority groups in the United States, 1981–1986, CDC surveillance summaries
MMWR
(1988) Racial variations in the incidence of congenital malformations
Ann Hum Genet
(1976)
Birth weight-specific infant mortality due to congenital anomalies, 1960 and 1980
Public Health Rep
Cited by (0)
- 1
Li Chen, MD, is a WHO Research Scholar from Yunnan Provincial MCH Hospital, Kunning, China.