( Nearly 28000 babies died before their ...)US infant mortality rate fails to improve

The infant mortality rates showed no significant improvement in 2003 after increasing in 2002 for the first time since 1958.

In 2003, the infant mortality rate was 6.8 deaths for every 1,000 live births, which was statistically unchanged from the 2002 rate of 7.0. Two-thirds of all infant deaths occurred within the first month of life.

"These new statistics are sobering. Essentially there has been no improvement in the infant death rate since 2000. Premature birth is the leading cause of newborn death in the first month of life and preventing premature birth remains at the forefront of the March of Dimes agenda," said Nancy Green, M.D., medical director of the March of Dimes. "We must be more focused upon reversing the stagnancy in the rate of infant mortality, a key indicator of child health, including working to reduce preterm and low birthweight births."

Birthweight and gestational age are two major predictors of infant health and survival. In 2003 birth defects, as well as prematurity and low birthweight remained the leading causes of infant death, according to the NCHS.

The percentage of infant deaths occurring to babies born premature (less than 37 weeks gestation) or with a low birthweight (less than 2500 grams or 5.5 pounds) increased 9 percent between 1995 and 2003, according to an analyses by the March of Dimes.

Babies born at less than 28 weeks gestation accounted for less than 1 percent (0.7 percent) all live births but nearly half (46.4 percent) of all U.S. infant deaths in 2003. Also, infants weighing less than 1,000 grams or 2.2 pounds at birth also accounted for less than one percent (0.8 percent) of births and nearly half (48.7 percent) of all infant deaths in the U.S. in 2003.

Multiple births had mortality rates more t
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Source:March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation