Stillbirths outnumber infant deaths in US for first time, study finds

The number of stillbirths in the United States was higher, for the first time, than the number of babies who died before their first birthday, according to a new study on infant mortality by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Infant deaths have been steadily declining over the past several years. In 2013, the CDC found that there were 23,595 fetal deaths, down from 24,073 in 2012, part of continuing trend. The rate of stillbirths in the U.S., however, has remained stable, at about 5.9 per 1000 births. In 2013, the most recent year for which data is available, the total number of stillbirths outnumbered infant deaths for the first time.

“We’ve made very little progress in reducing stillbirth in the U.S.,” Dr. Robert Goldenberg told the New York Times. An obstetrics professor at Columbia University, he was not involved in the study.

There are racial disparities in the incidence of stillbirths. Non-Hispanic black women in the U.S. suffer stillbirths at about twice the rate of other groups. Other factors increase the risk of stillbirth regardless of race. Teenage mothers and older mothers, over the age of 35, are at a higher risk than women in their late 20s, who have the least risk of stillbirth.

The risk of stillbirth also varies widely geographically, the study shows. Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Maryland have rates of stillbirth significantly higher than the national average.

Scientists have not been able to determine a cause for the racial disparity in stillbirths. Non-Hispanic black women have a rate of stillbirth of 10.75 per 1,000 births, and that figure remains higher than the national average of 5.9 per 1,000 births even with early medical intervention in pregnancy, the New York Times reports, citing a National Institutes of Health study.

The public’s focus has been more on infant death than stillbirth, the researchers write. “Much of the public concern regarding reproductive loss has concentrated on infant mortality, in part due to a lesser knowledge,” of the causes and means of preventing fetal deaths.

But this might be changing, the researchers note, saying that the CDC and charities have begun to focus on stillbirth issues.