Connecticut has one of the lowest infant mortality rates for white women in the United States.
However, along with Michigan, it has among the highest infant mortality rates for Hispanic women, according to a report by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Infant mortality refers to the death of a baby before his or her first birthday.
CDC Documents Infant Mortality Rates Across The United States
"We did something a little bit different this time, and that was to look at the state rates by race and ethnicity," said the lead author of the report, T.J. Mathews.
For a long time, infant mortality has been used as a basic measure of public health. The CDC report has indicated that there is an improvement in the overall infant mortality rate in the country. The figures are also lower than 10 years ago, with a 14 percent decline in numbers from 6.86 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2005 to 5.9 in 2015.
The CDC report, which kept a track of infant deaths during 2013 to 2015, also indicated that there was no improvement in mortality rates during 2014 to 2015.
Infant Mortality Rates For Various States
Connecticut’s white women were seen to have an infant mortality rate of 3.53 deaths per 1,000 live births, indicating a lower figure than the national average. At the same time, Hispanic women in the state had an infant mortality rate that was nearly twice that of white mothers at 6.91 deaths per 1,000 live births. The numbers were observed to be much higher than other states and the national average of 4.9 deaths per 1,000 live births.
The report found eight states with infant mortality rates that were much higher than the national average, namely, Texas, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Connecticut, and Alabama.
New Jersey and New York, on the other hand, were observed to have lower than average infant mortality rates among Hispanic women.
High Infant Mortality Rates For Hispanics And African-Americans
Though the report found that the infant mortality rate among Hispanics was high, the figure was still lower than African-American infant mortality rates. African-American babies across the nation died at nearly double the national average rate, with 11.10 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Social factors such as limited access to healthcare and transportation, lack of education, food insecurity, stress, and poverty are some of the factors that lead to poor health outcomes for both the babies and their mothers. It is also the reason why infant mortality is taken to be a measure of health in a community.
