Trends in Differences in US Mortality Rates between Black and White Infants (Riddell, 2017)
Riddell, Corinne A., Sam Harper, and Jay S. Kaufman, “Trends in Differences in US Mortality Rates between Black and White Infants,” JAMA Pediatrics (July 2017), doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2017.1365
URL: jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2633490
Abstract
Infant mortality rate is an important indicator of population health. A 2017 report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the infant mortality rate in the United States decreased by 15% in the past decade. The objective of this study is to establish if both black and white infants benefited equally from this decrease. We investigated recent trends in the absolute difference in overall and cause-specific infant mortality rates between non-Hispanic black and white infants.
Riddell et al. (2017) note a recent increase in African American infant mortality compared to white infants. While no one cause seems to be responsible, preterm birth and low birthweights are significantly higher in black infants compared to white infants, and contribute to the increased mortality.
