4 ms·

Even within the US, infant mortality rates vary by almost 3x across individual States.

kbutler 1y ago
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/infant_mortality_rates/infant_mortality.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/infant_mortality_r... I wonder how the consistent gestational period adjustments would affect the statistics for the various states.
- amanaplanacanal 1y ago
  I've seen it reported recently that both infant and maternal mortality has gone up in states that have outlawed abortion. Even if the doctor forecasts that the pregnancy will be a risk to the mother or infant, they don't want to be second-guessed after the fact and prosecuted for performing the abortion.
  - screamingninja 1y ago
    Can you share the report?
    - amanaplanacanal 1y ago
      https://thegepi.org/maternal-mortality-abortion-bans/ https://thegepi.org/maternal-mortality-abortion-bans/ and https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2830298 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/28302...
  - iamtheworstdev 1y ago
    it's not just that - but obgyns are leaving states that ban abortions. which has led to entire maternity wards being shut down. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/womens-health/pregnant-women-struggle-find-care-idaho-abortion-ban-rcna117872 https://www.nbcnews.com/health/womens-health/pregnant-women-...
- rayiner 1y ago
  The variations don’t seem to follow any rhyme or reason. Adjacent red and blue states do similarly (Idaho/Oregon, Minnesota/Iowa, Utah/Colorado). But North Dakota and South Dakota are quite different. Many states do worse (MD/VA) do worse than poorer ones (Oregon).
vhcr 1y ago
As does Japan, Ehime has a 0.9 / 1000 infant mortality rate, compared to 4.5 in Fukui.
ellisv 1y ago
and that's just the state average - think about the variability within states too!
Spooky23 1y ago
You have a few factors. Medicaid eligibility and more strongly location is a rough approximation for likelihood of complications or infant mortality. I consulted for an opioid surveillance program several years ago at a large scale data analytics level. It was very sobering - basically the scientists could score each pregnancy in the state on a scale of 0-100, where 0% was <5% probability of being born addicted and 100 was >95%. Most addicted mothers got hooked on painkillers as a result of injury or sickness. The biggest factors were access to healthcare, access to transportation, and health insurance. “Bad” zip codes were like 10x more likely to have an opioid addiction and 25x more complications. Being a new dad at the time, it really affected my view of politics in this space. I realized that as cynical as I am, it’s not enough.
- bjoli 1y ago
  800 meters from where I live a comfortable life kids are born into a statistically shorter, poorer life with more disease, more mental unhealth and fewer healthy years. People there live, on average, 4.5 years shorter than people where I live with something like 10 fewer healthy years. The statistics comparing people born here and there are pretty awful. Despite having the same hospital, infant mortality rate is something like 2x (although the statistical uncertainty is high). How is this not a failure of society? In addition: I live in a country with pretty high social mobility, especially compared to the US...

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/infant_mortality_rates/infant_mortality.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/infant_mortality_r... I wonder how the consistent gestational period adjustments would affect the statistics for the various states.

amanaplanacanal 1y ago
I've seen it reported recently that both infant and maternal mortality has gone up in states that have outlawed abortion. Even if the doctor forecasts that the pregnancy will be a risk to the mother or infant, they don't want to be second-guessed after the fact and prosecuted for performing the abortion.
- screamingninja 1y ago
  Can you share the report?
  - amanaplanacanal 1y ago
    https://thegepi.org/maternal-mortality-abortion-bans/ https://thegepi.org/maternal-mortality-abortion-bans/ and https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2830298 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/28302...
- iamtheworstdev 1y ago
  it's not just that - but obgyns are leaving states that ban abortions. which has led to entire maternity wards being shut down. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/womens-health/pregnant-women-struggle-find-care-idaho-abortion-ban-rcna117872 https://www.nbcnews.com/health/womens-health/pregnant-women-...
rayiner 1y ago
The variations don’t seem to follow any rhyme or reason. Adjacent red and blue states do similarly (Idaho/Oregon, Minnesota/Iowa, Utah/Colorado). But North Dakota and South Dakota are quite different. Many states do worse (MD/VA) do worse than poorer ones (Oregon).

vhcr 1y ago

As does Japan, Ehime has a 0.9 / 1000 infant mortality rate, compared to 4.5 in Fukui.

ellisv 1y ago

and that's just the state average - think about the variability within states too!

Spooky23 1y ago

You have a few factors. Medicaid eligibility and more strongly location is a rough approximation for likelihood of complications or infant mortality. I consulted for an opioid surveillance program several years ago at a large scale data analytics level. It was very sobering - basically the scientists could score each pregnancy in the state on a scale of 0-100, where 0% was <5% probability of being born addicted and 100 was >95%. Most addicted mothers got hooked on painkillers as a result of injury or sickness. The biggest factors were access to healthcare, access to transportation, and health insurance. “Bad” zip codes were like 10x more likely to have an opioid addiction and 25x more complications. Being a new dad at the time, it really affected my view of politics in this space. I realized that as cynical as I am, it’s not enough.

bjoli 1y ago
800 meters from where I live a comfortable life kids are born into a statistically shorter, poorer life with more disease, more mental unhealth and fewer healthy years. People there live, on average, 4.5 years shorter than people where I live with something like 10 fewer healthy years. The statistics comparing people born here and there are pretty awful. Despite having the same hospital, infant mortality rate is something like 2x (although the statistical uncertainty is high). How is this not a failure of society? In addition: I live in a country with pretty high social mobility, especially compared to the US...