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Infant mortality rate flat in San Diego County but disparities remain for some

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(Noel Hendrickson / Getty Images)
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San Diego County’s infant mortality rate was flat in 2016, but significant disparities continue for African American babies, according to newly-released data from the county Health and Human Services Agency.

There were 3.7 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2016, the most recent year for which numbers are publicly available, compared to a rate of 3.7 in 2015 and 3.8 in 2014, records show.

While tragic, infant deaths are rare. In 2016, the county recorded 159 deaths in the first year of life, totaling 0.37 percent of the 42,654 live births tallied that year.

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Though recent infant mortality results reveal a recent plateau in the number of local infants who die before their first birthdays, the long-term trend is positive. According to county records, the rate was 4.6 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2006 and the closely-watched indicator reached 5.9 in 2000.

The state rate, according to a recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was 4.2 in 2016 with the national rate at 5.9.

The U.S. infant mortality rate compares unfavorably to other industrialized nations with about 3 more deaths per 1,000 births than nations such as Japan, Iceland and Scandinavian nations such as Norway and Finland.

A 2016 study that compared European infant mortality rates with those in the U.S. found that disparities tend to be a factor of differences in socioeconomic status and access to preventive health care. European programs that extend services to mothers and their babies before and after birth, such as in-home nurse visits, seemed to contribute to lower mortality rates.

The county has tried just such an approach for those at highest risk, creating a Black Infant Health Program, which operates in certain economically disadvantaged zipcodes to increase assess to health services.

But that intense focus has not yet erased a persistent gap in infant mortality rates long observed between different races and ethnicities.

In 2016, the infant mortality rate for African American residents was 10.8 per 1,000 live births in San Diego County compared to a rate of 2.9 for white infants, 3.2 for Asian infants and 4.2 for Hispanic infants.

San Diego’s results were better than the nation’s as a whole which, according to the CDC, posted a rate of 11.4 per 1,000 births for African Americans in 2016 compared to a rate of 4.9 for white infants, 3.6 for Asian infants and 5 for Hispanic infants.

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paul.sisson@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1850

Twitter: @paulsisson

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