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March of Dimes, a maternal and child health nonprofit, released its annual report card—and gave the US a D+ in infant and new parent death and illness.
Though the US received the same score in 2023, both years mark the worst grades ever doled out in the report card’s 16-year history, according to the report that was published November 14. In 2021 and 2020, the US got a C-. The highest grade the US has received was a C+ in 2014.
The US recorded a 10.4% preterm birth rate in 2023, when there were 3.5+ million births in the US, per CDC data. The World Health Organization defines preterm birth as when a parent has a child before 37 weeks of pregnancy, and reports that it is the leading cause of death for children under five worldwide.
March of Dimes researchers also reported that infant mortality rose to 5.6 for every 1,000 live births in 2022, the most recent data available, which is up from 5.4 the year prior. The organization’s early data for 2023 suggests that the infant mortality rate will remain at roughly the same level.
While there were still more than 800 deaths among mothers in 2022, the maternal mortality rate in the report dropped from 32.9 in 2021 to 22.3 in 2022.
“The 2024 March of Dimes report card highlights the collective factors that contribute to maternal and infant mortality and morbidity,” March of Dimes interim President and CEO Cindy Rahman told Healthcare Brew in an email. “In 2022, there was a 3% spike in infant mortality, the largest increase in more than 20 years.”
Disparities remain. The report also found racial and economic disparities in the data.
The preterm birth rate for Black babies, for example, was 1.5x higher (14.7% compared to 10.4%) than all other groups, and Medicaid beneficiaries experienced 1.2x more (11.7% compared to 9.6%) preterm births than parents with private plans.
Further, the infant mortality rate for babies born to parents with Medicaid was 1.8x higher (7.4 compared to 4.1 deaths per 1000 live births) than the rate for babies born to parents with private health insurance.
The highest infant mortality rates occurred in Mississippi, South Dakota, Arkansas, Delaware, and Louisiana, while wealthier states like Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, California, and Rhode Island had the lowest rates.
In addition to healthcare disparities, March of Dimes cited pre-existing chronic conditions, unhealthy weight, pre-pregnancy hypertension, and poor access to care as some of the factors that can lead to complications during birth.
Building on the research. The nonprofit is also “closely monitoring data and new findings” about whether there’s a correlation between maternal or infant health and the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade, Rhaman added.
Earlier this year, Johns Hopkins University researchers reported that Texas, a state that bans abortion in nearly all cases, saw infant deaths increase 12.9% between 2021 and 2022. That’s compared to a 1.8% increase in the US at large.