What We Know: Maternal, Infant, and Child Health

CDC collects statistics from a variety of sources, including birth and death certificates, ongoing surveys, and health studies. Health statistics allow us to document health status, identify disparities, monitor trends, and more. Below are selected data on maternal, infant, and child health.

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Maternal Health
Infant Health
Child Health

Maternal Health

Approximately 6 million American women become pregnant each year, and more than 10,000 give birth each day.

Pregnancy Morbidity and Mortality

• About 1 in 4 women, or 1 million per year, have a significant complication during labor and delivery.
   
• For every 100,000 deliveries in the United States, about 20 women will die from pregnancy complications.
   
• Women 35 to 39 years of age are nearly 3 times as likely to experience a pregnancy-related death compared to women 25 to 29 years of age.
   
• The United States ranks 29th among developed countries in maternal mortality.

Source: Programs in Brief: Safe Motherhood
http://www.cdc.gov/programs/health07.htm

• The most common pregnancy complications include ectopic pregnancy, depression, high blood pressure, infection, complicated delivery, diabetes, premature labor, and hemorrhage.
   
• Other health risks梥uch as domestic violence, smoking, and substance abuse梒an jeopardize the health of both mother and infant even though these risks have not traditionally been thought of as pregnancy complications.

Source: Safe Motherhood: Promoting Health for Women Before, During, and After Pregnancy
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/aag/aag_drh.htm

• Inadequate weight gain during pregnancy contributes to the chances for unhealthy births; 26% of low-income women do not gain enough weight during their pregnancies.

Source: Programs in Brief: Maternal and Child Nutrition and Health
http://www.cdc.gov/programs/health03.htm

• Some of the most common causes of death for children 3 and younger actually originate in pregnancy. Problems like low birth weight and pre-term birth result from inadequate nutrition during pregnancy ... from smoking ... alcohol and drug use ... and inadequate prenatal care to treat high blood pressure, infections, and other conditions.

Source: CDC Protecting Health for Life: The State of the CDC, Fiscal Year 2004
http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/Protecting
Health_ForLife_04.pdf

Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs and HIV/AIDS)

• Chlamydia and gonorrhea are the most important preventable causes of infertility and potentially fatal tubal pregnancy. If not adequately treated, up to 40% of women infected with chlamydia or gonorrhea will develop infection in the uterus or fallopian tubes. Known as pelvic inflammatory disease, this infection can lead to infertility or ectopic pregnancy. Chlamydia and gonorrhea rates are highest among adolescent girls.
   
• In 2002, 41% of chlamydia infections in females were reported among 10- to 19-year-old girls, and 39% of gonorrhea infections were reported in this age group.
   
• Chlamydia increases the risk of HIV infection at least 3-fold to 5-fold.

Source: Programs in Brief: Preventing Infertility in Women
http://www.cdc.gov/programs/infect09.htm

• HIV transmission from mother to child during pregnancy, labor and delivery or by breast feeding has accounted for 91% of all AIDS cases reported among U.S. children. Data indicate that when antiretrovirals are delivered during the prenatal, intrapartum and neonatal periods, transmission rates can be reduced to less than 2% compared with approximately 25% when no interventions are given.

Source: Perinatal HIV Prevention Program: Background
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/projects/perinatal/background.htm

Smoking

• Smoking harms many aspects and every phase of reproduction. Despite having greater increased knowledge of the adverse health effects of smoking during pregnancy, many pregnant women and girls continue to smoke (estimates range from 12% to 22%). It is estimated that only 18% to 25% quit smoking once they become pregnant.

Source: Smoking among Adults: Reproductive Health (The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General)
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/sgr/sgr_2004/Factsheets/5.htm

• Research has shown that women抯 smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of pregnancy complications, premature delivery, low-birth-weight infants, stillbirth, and sudden infant death syndrome.

Source: Impact on Unborn Babies, Infants, Children, and Adolescents (The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General)
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/sgr/sgr_2004/Factsheets/1.htm

• Infants born to mothers who smoke weigh less than other infants, and low birthweight (<2,500 grams) is a key predictor for infant mortality. Infertility and conception delay also might be elevated by smoking.

Source: Smoking during Pregnancy: United States, 1990-2002
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5339a1.htm

Infant Health

Birth Defects

• Each year in the United States, 1 in 33 babies is born with a birth defect, amounting to 150,000 births.
   
• Another 3,000 babies are born with severe disorders that may not be obvious.
   
• In about 25% of the cases, the causes of birth defects and developmental disabilities are known.
   
• Most cases of spina bifida and other spine and brain defects can also be prevented if mothers-to-be get enough folic acid in their diet before and during early pregnancy.

Source: Programs in Brief: Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities
http://www.cdc.gov/programs/bd.htm

Nutrition

• During pregnancy, anemia continues to be problematic, especially among low-income women�% are anemic, greatly increasing their risk of having pre-term and low birth-weight babies.
   
• About one third of U.S. newborns are never breast-fed, and less than half of these continue for 6 months, putting them at increased risk for diarrhea, ear infections, pneumonia, type 1 diabetes, celiac disease, and childhood overweight.

Source: Programs in Brief: Maternal and Child Nutrition and Health
http://www.cdc.gov/programs/health03.htm

Perinatal HIV Transmission

• Perinatal HIV transmission occurs when the virus is passed from mother to child during pregnancy, labor or delivery, or breast-feeding. Perinatal transmission accounts for 91% of all AIDS cases reported among U.S. children, and an estimated 17,000 HIV infections have occurred among children since the epidemic began.
   
• Women of color and their children have been disproportionately affected. Of the 3,748 children reported with perinatally-acquired AIDS in 2002, 3,200 (85%) were African American and Latino/Hispanic.

Source: Programs in Brief: Eliminating Perinatal HIV Transmission
http://www.cdc.gov/programs/hiv05.htm

Very Low Birthweight

• The number of extremely small babies (weighing less than 1 lb, 10.5 oz or 750 grams at birth) increased by almost 500 births from 2001 to 2002. The increase occurred primarily among mothers in the peak childbearing ages of 20� years and occurred across most racial and ethnic groups.

Source: More Babies Born at Very Low Birthweight
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/05news/lowbirthwt.htm

Child Health

Asthma

• Children in poor families (15%) were more likely to have ever been diagnosed with asthma than children in families that were not poor (12%).

Source: Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Children: National Health Interview Survey, 2003
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_223.pdf

Child Maltreatment

• Among children confirmed by child protective service agencies as being maltreated, 60% suffered neglect; 20% were physically abused; 10% were sexually abused; and 7% were emotionally or psychologically abused.
   
• Children younger than 4 years are at greatest risk of severe injury or death. In 2002, children younger than 4 years accounted for 76% of child maltreatment fatalities, with infants under 1 year accounting for 41% of deaths.

Source: Child Maltreatment
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/cmfacts.htm

Injury

• Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death for children age 1 and older in the United States.
   
• In 2001, a total of 1,579 child passengers 0 to 14 years of age died in motor vehicle crashes in the United States, and more than 250,000 sustained injuries requiring treatment in an emergency department.

Source: Preventing Childhood Injuries
http://www.cdc.gov/programs/injury05.htm

Lead Poisoning

• Childhood lead poisoning remains a major preventable environmental public health problem in the United States. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 1999�02 data, an estimated 310,000 U.S. children aged 1 to 5 years have blood lead levels greater than 10 micrograms per deciliter (礸/dL), a level at which harmful health effects are known to occur.

Source: Programs in Brief: Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program
http://www.cdc.gov/programs/environ04.htm

Nutrition

• Despite a gradual decline in pediatric anemia during the past decade, 13% of low-income children are anemic, and rates of anemia are greater than 30% among low-income groups in some areas, putting these children at increased risk of developmental delays and impaired cognitive ability.
   
• In addition, more than 13% of low-income children are overweight.

Source: Programs in Brief: Maternal and Child Nutrition and Health
http://www.cdc.gov/programs/health03.htm

• Among children and teens ages 6-19, 16% are overweight, triple the rate in 1980. Another 15% are at risk for becoming overweight.

Source: CDC Protecting Health for Life: The State of the CDC, Fiscal Year 2004
http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/Protecting
Health_ForLife_04.pdf

Youth Violence

• Homicide is the fourth leading cause of death for U.S. children 1 to 9 years of age, the fifth leading cause of death for children 10 to 14 years of age, and the second leading cause of death for youth 15 to 24 years of age.
   
• Homicide and suicide combined account for 29% of deaths among youth.
   
• Everyday in the United States, an average of 17 Americans ages 24 years and younger die as victims of homicide.

Source: Programs in Brief: Preventing Youth Violence
http://www.cdc.gov/programs/injury12.htm

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This page last reviewed April 15, 2005
URL: http://www.cdc.gov/women/owh/worldhd/know.htm

US Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Office of Women's Health