Abstract

Although the infant mortality rate (IMR) has steadily declined in the United States since the early 1900s, the rate varies among racial/ethnic populations. A goal of the national health objectives for 2010 is to eliminate racial/ethnic health disparities (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, unpublished data, 1999). Historically, IMRs among American Indians and Alaskan Natives (AI/AN) have been high. In addition, IMRs have varied among AI/AN populations. To determine recent trends in infant mortality among Northwest AI/AN, the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB) analyzed annual IMRs among AI/AN in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. In addition, because sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the major contributor to excess infant mortality in Northwest AI/AN, NPAIHB analyzed SIDS rates to determine whether the decline in SIDS rates in the United States also was occurring among Northwest AI/AN. This report summarizes the results of this analysis and documents dramatic decreases in both SIDS and non-SIDS infant mortality.

Highlights

  • THE INFANT MORTALITY RATE (IMR) has steadily declined in the United States since the early 1900s, the rate varies among racial/ethnic populations.1 A goal of the national health objectives for 2010 is to eliminate racial/

  • Numerators for IMRs were all resident deaths for which the decedent was aged

  • 365 days and for which the death certificate was linked to a birth certificate on which the race of the mother was AI/AN, regardless of whether the death occurred in the same calendar year as the birth

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Summary

Northwest American

THE INFANT MORTALITY RATE (IMR) has steadily declined in the United States since the early 1900s, the rate varies among racial/ethnic populations. A goal of the national health objectives for 2010 is to eliminate racial/. To determine recent trends in infant mortality among Northwest AI/AN, the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB) analyzed annual IMRs among AI/AN in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. IMRs for Northwest AI/AN decreased from 20.0 per 1000 live-born infants during 19851988 to 7.7 during 1993-1996, a rate difference of 12.3 per 1000 population. For the same three time periods, IMRs and SIDS rates decreased for non-AI/AN in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. One third of the decrease in infant mortality in non-AI/AN resulted from the decline in SIDS. Annual SIDS rates and overall IMRs decreased substantially for both AI/AN and non-AI/AN during the study period. KD Rosenberg, MD, Oregon Health Div. CDC Editorial Note: The findings in this report document a dramatic decline in IMR among Northwest AI/AN during 1985-1996.

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Findings
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