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Risk Factors Associated With Infant Mortality |
Health officials say the infant mortality rate alone is only part of the picture and does not provide information about other variables known to be related to infant mortality: age and education level of the mother, when prenatal care was begun, weeks of gestation at birth, and birth weight (notable variables because prematurity is the leading cause of low birth weight, and low birth weight the leading cause of infant mortality). For this reason, an increase or decrease in the infant mortality rate alone is often not a true reflection, nor a blanket indicator, of the many community dynamics that affect maternal and child health, and should not be interpreted as such. There are many risk factors associated with infant deaths. Although not all babies born with these risk factors will die during the first year of life, minimizing these risks helps improve birth outcomes and child health generally. Also, it is important to note that not all of these risk factors are known to cause infant death, but all are known to be associated with infant mortality. Risk factors generally associated with infant mortality include:
The racial disparities in infant deaths and low birth weight cannot be explained by the above factors alone. Even among mothers with none of these risk factors, there is still a disparity between whites and African Americans in both infant death and low birth weight. |
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