Infant Mortality and American Indians/Alaska Natives

American Indian/Alaska Natives have 1.4 times the infant mortality rate as non-Hispanic whites.
American Indian/Alaska Native babies are twice as likely as non-Hispanic white babies to die from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and they are 30% more to die from complications related to low birthweight and congenital malformations as compared to non-Hispanic whites babies.
American Indian/Alaska Native infants are 3.7 times as likely as non-Hispanic white infants to have mothers who began prenatal care in the 3rd trimester or not receive prenatal care at all.

At a glance – Infant Mortality Rate:

**Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births, 2005**
American Indian/Alaska Native	Non-Hispanic White	All Races	American Indian/Alaska Native /Non- Hispanic White Ratio
8.1	5.8	6.9	1.4

Source: CDC 2008. Infant Mortality Statistics from the 2005 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set. National Vital Statistics Reports 57(2). Table 6.
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 American Indian/Alaska Native, 2005. (Rates per 100,000 live births)**
Cause of Death (By rank)	# American Indian/Alaska Native Deaths	American Indian/Alaska Native Death Rate	#Non- Hispanic White Deaths	Non- Hispanic White Death Rate	American Indian/Alaska Native/Non- Hispanic White Ratio
(1) Congenital malformations	73	162.9	2,851	125.0	1.3
(2) Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)	50	111.6	1,264	55.4	2.0
(3) Low-Birthweight	44	98.2	1,725	75.7	1.3

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:

**Percentage of live births in which mother received prenatal care starting in the 1st trimester, 2005**
American Indian/Alaska Native	Non-Hispanic White	American Indian/Alaska Native/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
69.6	88.7	0.8

Source: CDC 2008. Health United States, 2008. Table 7
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf [PDF | 12.2MB

**Percentage of live births in which mother received prenatal care starting in the 3rd trimester or did not receive prenatal care at all, 2005**
American Indian/Alaska Native	Non-Hispanic White	American Indian/Alaska Native/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
8.2	2.2	3.7

Source: CDC 2008. Health United States, 2008. Table 7
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf [PDF | 12.2MB

At a glance – Characteristics of Mother:

**Percentage of mothers who smoked cigarettes during pregnancy, 2005**
American Indian/Alaska Native	Non-Hispanic White	American Indian/Alaska Native/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
17.8	13.9	1.3

Source: CDC 2008. Health United States, 2008. Table 7
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf [PDF | 12.2MB

Maternal education, 2004

**Percentage of live births in which mother had less than 12 years of education, 2004**
American Indian/Alaska Native	Non-Hispanic White	American Indian/Alaska Native/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
30.1	11.0	2.7

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**
American Indian/Alaska Native	Non-Hispanic White	American Indian/Alaska Native/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
8.6	37.0	0.2

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, less than 12 years education**
American Indian/Alaska Native	Non-Hispanic White	American Indian/Alaska Native/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
10.2	9.3	1.1

Source: CDC 2008. Health United States, 2008. Table 19
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf [PDF | 12.2MB

**Infant mortality rates among mothers 20 years of age and over, with over 13 years education**
American Indian/Alaska Native	Non-Hispanic White	American Indian/Alaska Native/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
6.4	4.1	1.5

Source: CDC 2008. Health United States, 2008. Table 19
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf [PDF | 12.2MB

**Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births**
Age of mother	American Indian/Alaska Native	Non-Hispanic White	American Indian/Alaska Native/Non- Hispanic White Ratio
Under 20 years	9.4	8.7	0.9
20-24 years	8.1	7.1	1.1
25-29 years	7.1	5.1	1.4
30-34 years	7.4	4.4	1.7
35-39 years	11.1	5.1	2.2
40-54 years	---	6.6	--

Source: CDC 2008. Infant Mortality Statistics from the 2005 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set. National Vital Statistics Reports 57(2). Table 1 and Table 2.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr57/nvsr57_02.pdf [PDF, 745KB]

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Content Last Modified: 4/13/2009 3:04:00 PM