THURSDAY, June 25, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- For the first time in two decades, the infant mortality rate in the United States has risen, new government data shows. In a report released Thursday by the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers found that more than 20,500 babies died in 2022 before the age of 1. Overall, there were 5.6 infant deaths for every 1,000 live births, a 3% increase from the year before.
“Infant health is one of the most important public health indicators that we have,” Amanda Jean Stevenson , a demographer and assistant professor of sociology at the University of Colorado Boulder, told CNN . “The fact that [infant mortality rates] are not continuing to decrease is a very big deal. Even flat infant mortality rates are not good," she added.
"We need to see these numbers going down -- and fast -- because they are far too high.” In the United States, infant mortality had been generally trending down since at least 1995, but rates are still much higher in this country than they are in many other developed nations. Why are more infants dying? The leading causes of infant mortality stayed the same between 2021 and 2022: Congenital malformations led to nearly 1 in 5 deaths.
Another 14% was caused by disorders related to short gestation and low birth weight, followed by sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), unintentional injuries and maternal complications. But the rate of infant deaths from maternal complications jumped 9% between 20.