Infant Mortality and African Americans

African Americans have 2.4 times the infant mortality rate as non-Hispanic whites. They are four times as likely to die as infants due to complications related to low birthweight as compared to non-Hispanic white infants.

African Americans had 1.9 times the sudden infant death syndrome mortality rate as non-Hispanic whites, in 2006.
African American mothers were 2.5 times more likely than non-Hispanic white mothers to begin prenatal care in the 3rd trimester, or not receive prenatal care at all.
The infant mortality rate for African American mothers with over 13 years of education was almost three times that of Non-Hispanic White mothers in 2005.

At a glance – Infant Mortality Rate:

**Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births, 2006**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	All Races	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
13.4	5.6	7.0	2.4

Source: CDC 2010. Infant Mortality Statistics from the 2006 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set. National Vital Statistics Reports. Table 2.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr58/nvsr58_17.pdf [PDF | 592.25KB]

At a glance – Leading Causes of Infant Mortality:

**Infant deaths and mortality rates for the top 3 leading cause of death for African Americans, 2006. (Rates per 100,000 live births)**
Cause of Death (By rank)	# African American Deaths	African American Death Rate	#Non- Hispanic White Deaths	Non- Hispanic White Death Rate	African American/ Non- Hispanic White Ratio
(1) Low-Birthweight	1,863	301.8	1774	76.8	3.9
(2) Congenital malformations	1,078	174.6	2922	126.6	1.4
(3) Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)	641	103.8	1,283	55.6	1.9
(4) Maternal Complications	552	89.4	731	31.7	2.8

Source: CDC 2010. Infant Mortality Statistics from the 2006 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set. National Vital Statistics Reports. Table 7.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr58/nvsr58_17.pdf [PDF | 592.25KB]

At a glance – Prenatal Care:

**Percentage of live births in which mother received prenatal care starting in the 1 st trimester, 2006**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
76.1	88.1	0.9

Source: CDC 2009. Health United States, 2008. Table 7
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf [PDF | 12.2MB]

**Percentage of live births in which mother received prenatal care starting in the 3rd trimester or did not receive prenatal care at all, 2006**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
5.7	2.3	2.5

Source: CDC 2009. Health United States, 2008. Table 7
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf [PDF | 12.2MB]

At a glance – Characteristics of Mother:

**Percentage of mothers who smoked cigarettes during pregnancy, 2006**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
7.9	13.3	0.6

Source: CDC 2009. Health United States, 2008. Table 11
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf [PDF | 12.2MB]

**Infant mortality rates among mothers 20 years of age and over, with less than 12 years of education, 2005**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
14.8	9.3	1.6

Source: CDC 2009. Health United States, 2008. Table 19
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf [PDF | 12.2MB]

**Infant mortality rates among mothers 20 years of age and over, with over 13 years education, 2005**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
11.4	4.1	2.8

Source: CDC 2009. Health United States, 2008. Table 19
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf [PDF | 12.2MB]

**Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births, 2006**
Age of mother	Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	African American/Non- Hispanic White Ratio
Under 20 years	14.3	9.5	1.5
20-24 years	13.2	6.8	1.9
25-29 years	12.4	5.0	2.5
30-34 years	13.5	4.3	2.9
35-39 years	14.3	4.8	3.0
40-54 years	15.5	6.4	2.4

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Content Last Modified: 6/22/2010 3:04:00 PM