NCHS report highlights first statistically significant increase in infant deaths since 2002

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Provisional data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) reveals that for the first time in two decades, the number of U.S. infants who died in their first year of life is on the rise – 5.6 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2022 from 5.44 in 2021.

The report used figures from the National Vital Statistics System of birth and death records for children's first year of life across 50 states and the District of Columbia, according to NCHS health statistician and report author Danielle Ely.

"Although the U.S. continually had higher infant death rates than other high-income countries, the country had seen a 22 percent decline in child deaths before this report," Ely told USA Today.

Ely added that the provisional figures will be finalized in a report expected next spring but its authors decided to release the data early to provide a warning to healthcare providers and officials on the growing trend.

"The American infant mortality rate of 5.6 per 1,000 births is about three times as high as Norway's, which El-Mohandes said is notable but is more alarming that the U.S. has been unable to significantly reduce its mortality rate below what it was in 2000," noted Dr. Ayman El Mohandes, dean of the City University of New York's Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy.

Researchers involved in the report have found the following:

The five leading causes of all infant deaths in 2021 were the same as those in 2020 – congenital malformations (20 percent); disorders related to short gestation and low birth weight (15 percent); sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS (7 percent); accidents or unintentional injuries (7 percent); and maternal complications and bacterial sepsis of newborns (6 percent).

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In terms of race, the infant mortality rate of Asian women increased by 17 percent from 2020-2021. Among Hispanic-origin subgroups, the mortality rate for infants of Dominican women decreased by 28 percent.

In terms of maternal age in 2021, infant mortality rates of women under age 15 years were highest at 14.92 deaths per 1,000 live births. It decreased to a low of 4.48 infant deaths for women aged 30-34 years, and then increased to 6.74 infant deaths for women aged 40 years and over.

In terms of gestational age, the infant mortality rate for infants born at less than 32 weeks of gestation declined from 175.88 per 1,000 live births in 2020 to 167.39 in 2021.

By state of residence, infant mortality ranged from a low of 2.77 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in North Dakota to a high of 9.39 in Mississippi.

Infant deaths were significantly higher in some states – Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.

Maternal health and infant deaths are intertwined

"The health of the baby is often directly related to the health of the mother," said Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine Director Dr. Dennis Costakos at the Mayo Clinic Health System in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

USA Today reported on the death of a baby boy delivered by a teenage mother in fetal distress at 25 weeks gestation, despite the doctors' efforts at resuscitating the infant with cardiac compressions, chest tubes, ventilation and other methods. The neonatologist later on discovered that the mother had a previously undiagnosed case of syphilis.

Health experts raise concerns because the U.S. has ignored the increased maternal mortality rate during pregnancy, delivery and after giving birth from 2018 to 2021 – with the highest rates of pregnancy-related deaths in Black and American Indian, Native Alaskan and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women.

A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report indicated that:

1 in 5 or about 20 percent of women reported mistreatment while receiving maternity care.

1 in 3 or about 30 percent of Black, 29 percent of Hispanic and 27 percent of multi-racial women reported mistreatment during pregnancy, delivery and after giving birth – being shouted at or scolded; being threatened with withholding treatment or made to accept unwanted treatment; not having their physical privacy protected; receiving no response to requests for help, among others. (Related: HOLOCAUST OF THE UNBORN: Babies are DYING because their mothers got "vaccinated" for covid.)

45 percent or almost half of women held back from asking questions or sharing concerns during their maternity care.

More than 80 percent of pregnancy-related deaths were preventable.

"This is unacceptable. We know mistreatment and discrimination can have a negative impact on the quality of maternity care. We have to encourage a culture of respectful maternity care. This should be part of greater efforts to improve quality by standardizing care to reduce complications and deaths related to pregnancy and delivery," CDC Chief Medical Officer Dr. Debra Houry said.

"Keeping women and children in good health has to be a conscientious, proactive undertaking. There needs to be (an) investment in the safeguards in order to support families to reduce infant mortality," said Georgia Machell, interim president and CEO of the National WIC Association, a nonprofit that represents nutrition service provider agencies that implement the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program.

Watch this report about infant mortality rate increasing for the first time in two decades.

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