infant mortality rate

Examples of infant mortality rate in the following topics:

• Mortality

  • Some of the more common demographic measures of mortality include the crude death rate (the annual number of deaths per 1000 people), the infant mortality rate, or the annual number of deaths of children less than 1 year old per thousand live births, and life expectancy, which measures the number of years that an individual at a given age can expect to live, given present mortality rates.
  • To more accurately estimate mortality rates, demographers calculate age and gender specific mortality rates.
  • These rates are compiled in a life table, which shows the mortality rate separate for each age group and gender.
  • Overall, developing countries tend to have higher mortality rates, higher infant mortality rates, and lower life expectancies.
  • Explain the various ways mortality is calculated, such as the crude death rate, infant mortality rate and life expectancy

• The Health of Infants and Children

  • Birth defects are among the leading global causes of infant and child mortality, with an estimated 4.9 million birth defect pregnancies worldwide each year.
  • In Asia, dengue fever, an infectious tropical disease, is a major cause of child mortality.
  • Improved pre- and post-natal care, as well as more accessible information about infant health, could help reduce the infant mortality rate.
  • Infant mortality rates are reduced by increasing availability of safe emergency pregnancy care and training doctors and nurses to promote safe breast feeding for HIV infected women and other support and guidance related to pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum periods.
  • This poster from a museum exhibit illustrates how in impoverished communities without access to technologically advanced medical facilities, the first intervention used to reduce rates of infant mortality is often improving sanitation or hygienic standards.

• Health Care in the U.S.

  • The United States pays twice as much, yet lags behind other wealthy nations in such measures as infant mortality and life expectancy.
  • Currently, the United States has a higher infant mortality rate than most of the world's industrialized nations.

• Data and Methods

  • net reproduction rate: the number of daughters who would be born to a woman according to current age-specific fertility and mortality rates
  • infant mortality rate: the annual number of deaths of children less than 1 year old per thousand live births
  • This chart depicts infant mortality by region of the world.
  • The less developed regions of the world have higher infant mortality rates than the more developed regions.
  • Similar to infant mortality, life expectancies are higher in more developed regions of the world.

• Race and Health

  • Another contributor to the overall worse health of blacks is the incident of HIV/AIDS; the rate of new AIDS cases is ten times higher among blacks than whites, and blacks are 20 times as likely to have HIV/AIDS as are whites.
  • When compared to European Americans, these minority groups have higher incidence of chronic diseases, higher mortality, and poorer health outcomes.
  • Minorities also have higher rates of cardiovascular disease, HIV/AIDS, and infant mortality than whites.
  • Infant mortality is another place where racial disparities are quite evident.
  • In fact, infant mortality rates are 14 of every 1000 births for black, non-Hispanics compared to 6 of every 1000 births for whites.

• Social Class

  • They are unable to use healthcare as often and when they do, it is of lower quality, even though they generally tend to experience a much higher rate of health issues.
  • Consequently, they have higher rates of infant mortality, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and disabling physical injuries.
  • Such examples include higher rates of morbidity and mortality for those in lower occupational classes than those in higher occupational classes, and the increased likelihood of those from ethnic minorities being diagnosed with a mental health disorder.

• Social Class and Health

  • They are unable to use health care as often, and when they do it is of lower quality, even though they generally tend to experience a much higher rate of health issues.
  • Consequently, they have higher rates of infant mortality, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and disabling physical injuries.
  • Such examples include higher rates of morbidity and mortality for those in lower occupational classes than those in higher occupational classes, and the increased likelihood of those from ethnic minorities being diagnosed with a mental health disorder.

• Galactosemia and Glycogen Storage Disease

  • In other populations the incidence rate differs.
  • Without treatment, mortality in infants with galactosemia is about 75%.
  • Infants are routinely screened for galactosemia in the United States.
  • Infants affected by galactosemia typically present with symptoms of lethargy, vomiting, diarrhea, failure to thrive, and jaundice.
  • Infants with classic galactosemia cannot be breast-fed due to lactose in human breast milk and are usually fed a soy-based formula.

• Global Aging

  • On average, global life expectancies have been increasing and birth rates declining, resulting in global aging.
  • However, the rate at which the world's population is aging is not uniform across the world—some countries have actually seen decreasing life expectancies.
  • Much of the higher death rates in poorer nations is due to war, starvation, infant deaths, diseases, and lack of access to adequate health care.
  • There are several possible reasons for this trend: first, in poorer countries, it may be important to have many children because infant mortality is high and children provide financial support for households and support for their parents in retirement.
  • A drop in the birth rate means that the percentage of people in a society who are young will decline.

• Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

  • Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is marked by the sudden death of an infant that is not predicted by medical history.
  • Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is marked by the sudden death of an infant that is not predicted by medical history and remains unexplained after a thorough forensic autopsy and detailed death scene investigation.
  • The unique signature characteristic of SIDS is its log-normal age distribution that spares infants shortly after birth — the time of maximal risk for almost all other causes of non-trauma infant death.
  • Other notable characteristics are its disproportionate affliction of male infants and the fact that caregivers are unaware in the preceding 24 hours that the infant is at risk of imminent sudden death.
  • Infants sleeping prone or exposed to tobacco smoke are at greater risk than infants sleeping supine or unexposed to tobacco smoke, respectively.