Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
US Gets D+ Grade From March of Dimes For Stubbornly High Preterm Birth Rate
Many pregnant women in the U.S., particularly in the South, face inadequate prenatal care, complicated by abortion restrictions, air pollution and extreme heat, according to a new March of Dimes report. As a result, there have been no improvements in the preterm birth rate in the last 10 years. In its annual report, released Thursday, the March of Dimes gave the U.S. a dismal D+ grade based on the number of babies born too soon last year. Last year, the preterm birth rate was 10.4%. In 2022, it was 10.5%. In fact, little has changed in the past decade. In 2013, the preterm birth rate was 9.8%. (Edwards, 11/14)
On infant mortality —
Infant mortality rates remained relatively unchanged from 2022 to 2023, but racial and ethnic disparities still persist, new provisional federal data released early Thursday finds. The U.S. provisional infant mortality rate in 2023 was 5.61 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, unchanged from the 2022 rate, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). The report also found that infants born to Black mothers still died at much higher rates than those born to white and Asian mothers -- more than double the rate of white infant mortality, according to the CDC. (Kekatos and Rayala, 11/14)
A decade ago, one ZIP code in Akron had the highest infant mortality rate in the country. The rest of Ohio wasn’t faring much better. Of every 1,000 babies born in the state, statistically 7.6 died — one of the highest rates in the nation. Since then, Ohio policy makers have attempted to reduce infant deaths, even passing bipartisan legislation with that goal in mind. But years later, more than seven of every 1,000 babies born in Ohio still die before their first birthday, according to a report from Groundwork Ohio, a nonprofit that advocates for the state’s young children. (Gottsacker, 11/13)
With a lack of regulation for coroners, a child who dies unexpectedly or outside of a doctor’s care in Idaho is less likely to be autopsied than anywhere else in the United States. (Dutton, 11/11)
