Major Causes Of Infant Mortality In The United States

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If a child dies before they reach their first birthday, it is defined as infant mortality. It is estimated that over 23,000 infants died in the United States in the year 2013. This number was calculated by using the IMR or the infant mortality rate. The IMR is calculated using the estimate number of infant deaths per one-thousand live births. According to the CDC, for every one-thousand babies that are born, six of them will die within their first year of life. The five major causes that lead to infant mortality include but are not limited to birth defects, SIDS, accidents and injuries such as from suffocation, complications from pregnancy, and more importantly preterm birth and low birth weight. Low birth weight is considered to be the most significant contributor for infant mortality rate in many wealthy and developed countries. With proper education and access to quality health care before, during and after pregnancy, many of these deaths could have been prevented. …show more content…
sadly enough has the highest infant mortality rate compared to many other developed and wealthy countries. Studies have shown that a baby who is born in the United States is three times more likely to die within their first year than a child that was born in Finland or Japan. In the year 2011 the U.S. Was ranked twenty-seventh in infant mortality within wealthy developed nations, but it was still behind many European countries, Australia, Canada, and Sweden; which has the lowest infant mortality rate of almost 2.4 deaths for every one-thousand births. The CDC claims that the U.S. was ranked 11 in infant mortality in 1960. So why, as the wealthiest nation in the world do we have the highest infant mortality rate? It's mainly because of the disparities in the way infant deaths are reported in the U.S. versus other nations. The rate of infant mortality changes based on how a country

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