Infant Mortality in the United States

Abstract

IN a recent article on infant mortality in rural and urban areas in the United States (Public Health Rep., 57, 1494 ; 1942), Herbert J. Sommers, of the United States Public Health Service, states that the infant mortality-rate in the registration areas of the United States has been reduced by more than a half. From 1915 until 1929 the urban rate, though higher than the rural in every year, decreased more rapidly than the rural, so that in 1929, for the first time on record, the rate was lower in urban than in rural areas, and since then the urban rate has remained lower than the rural. The rates were generally higher in the south than in other regions and rural rates were generally highest in the Middle West. The reduction in infant mortality which has taken place in cities is to be attributed to increasing emphasis being laid on the principles of sanitation, the establishment of 'well-baby' clinics, the increasing use of hospitals for delivery, the compulsory pasteurization of milk and the application of modern medical knowledge.