Infant Mortality and African Americans

African Americans have 2.3 times the infant mortality rate as non-Hispanic whites. They are 2.4 times as likely to die as infants due to complications related to low birthweight as compared to non-Hispanic white infants.

African Americans had 1.8 times the sudden infant death syndrome mortality rate as non-Hispanic whites, in 2005.
African American mothers were 2.6 times more likely than non-Hispanic white mothers to begin prenatal care in the 3rd trimester, or not receive prenatal care at all.
The infant mortality rate for African American mothers with over 13 years of education was almost three times that of Non-Hispanic White mothers in 2004.

At a glance – Infant Mortality Rate:

**Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births, 2005**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	All Races	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
13.6	5.8	6.9	2.3

Source: CDC 2008. Infant Mortality Statistics from the 2005 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set. National Vital Statistics Reports 57(2). Table 2.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr57/nvsr57_02.pdf [PDF, 745KB]

At a glance – Leading Causes of Infant Mortality:

**Infant deaths and mortality rates for the top 3 leading cause of death for African Americans, 2005. (Rates per 100,000 live births)**
Cause of Death (By rank)	# African American Deaths	African American Death Rate	#Non- Hispanic White Deaths	Non- Hispanic White Death Rate	African American/ Non- Hispanic White Ratio
(1) Low-Birthweight	1,780	304.9	1725	75.7	2.4
(2) Congenital malformations	978	167.5	2851	125	2.2
(3) Maternal Complications	619	106.0	734	32.2	3.3
(4) Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)	580	99.4	1,264	55.4	1.8

Source: CDC 2008. Infant Mortality Statistics from the 2005 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set. National Vital Statistics Reports 57(2). Table 7.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr57/nvsr57_02.pdf [PDF, 745KB]

At a glance – Prenatal Care:

Prenatal care began during the 1 st trimester, 2004

**(% of live births in which mother received prenatal care starting in the 1 st trimester)**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
76.5	88.9	0.9

Source: CDC 2007. Health United States, 2007. Table 7
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus07.pdf

Prenatal care began during the 3rd trimester or mother received no prenatal care, 2004

**(% of live births in which mother received prenatal care starting in the 3rd trimester or did not receive prenatal care at all)**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
5.7	2.2	2.6

Source: CDC 2007. Health United States, 2007. Table 7
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus07.pdf

At a glance – Characteristics of Mother:

**Percentage of mothers who smoked cigarettes during pregnancy, 2004**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
8.4	13.8	0.6

Source: CDC 2007. Health United States, 2007. Table 12
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus07.pdf

Maternal education, 2004

**% of live births in which mother had less than 12 years of education (high school)**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
23.4	11.0	2.1

Source: CDC 2007. Health United States, 2007. Table 11
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus07.pdf

**% of live births in which mother had 16 years or more of education (college)**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
13.8	37.0	0.4

Source: CDC 2007. Health United States, 2007. Table 11
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus07.pdf

**Infant mortality rates among mothers 20 years of age and over, with less than 12 years of education**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
15.2	9.0	1.7

Source: CDC 2007. Health United States, 2007. Table 20
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus07.pdf

**Infant mortality rates among mothers 20 years of age and over, with over 13 years education**
Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
11.9	4.1	2.9

Source: CDC 2007. Health United States, 2007. Table 20
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus07.pdf

Age of mother, 2005

**Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births**
Age of mother	Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	African American/Non- Hispanic White Ratio
Under 20 years	14.9	10.0	1.5
20-24 years	13.6	7.1	1.9
25-29 years	13.0	5.1	2.5
30-34 years	12.7	4.4	2.7
35-39 years	14.3	5.1	2.8
40-54 years	15.8	6.6	2.4

You will need Adobe Acrobat® Reader™ to view PDF files located on this site. If you do not already have Adobe Acrobat® Reader™, you can download here for free.

Content Last Modified: 1/9/2009 11:05:00 AM