In a report published online in the December 21, 2009 edition of Pediatrics more than 4.3 million U.S. births were recorded for the year 2007, a 1 percent increase over the previous year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, teen births are up for the second year in a row, births among unmarried women are rising, and the infant mortality rate remains higher than in many other countries, including France and Japan.
Paul D. Sutton of the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics and co-author of the report said “since 2005 we have seen an increase in the rate of teen births.” It had been on the decline before that.
According to a CDC report released in November, the main cause of the U.S. high infant mortality rate when compared with Europe is the very high percentage of preterm births in the United States. In France and Japan, the infant mortality rate is three deaths for 100 live births. In the U.S. it has been around seven deaths per 100.
Highlights of the report include:
- The teen birth rate rose about 1 percent, to 42.5 births per 1000 teenagers
- Births to women aged 15 to 44 went up 1 percent, to 69.5 births per 1000 women
- Births to unmarried women in all ethnic/racial groups rose about 1 percent, to 39.7 percent
- Cesarean deliveries rose 2 percent, to 31.8 percent of all births
- The rate of multiple births did not change
- Pre-term births declined 1 percent, to 12.7 percent
- The rate of low-birth-weight infants fell to 8.2 percent
- The infant mortality rate was 6.77 deaths per 1000 live births
- Life expectancy at birth reached a record high of 77.9 years
- Death rates for children age 1 to 19 fell 2.5 percent
- Leading causes of death to children and adolescents were unintentional injuries and homicide
Comments