Infant Death and Illness

Defining the Problem

Infant death is often called "infant mortality." It's defined as the death of a child before his or her first birthday. Infant mortality is often used to measure the health of a community or state.

Each year, North Carolina measures the health of its population as a whole and by race and ethnicity. The "infant mortality rate" is the number of babies who die before their first birthday for every 1,000 babies that are born live (also called live births).

Since 1988, North Carolina's infant mortality rate has dropped 45 percent. But this rate of infant death is still much higher than that of most other states. The United States ranked 29th worldwide in 2004 (the latest available data.)

Infant illness or infant sickness is often called "infant morbidity." Infant morbidity refers to the babies that are born with health problems and live.

What's the Picture for North Carolina?

In 2009, 122,302 babies were born alive, a decrease from 2008 (130,758).

For every 1,000 of those live births, 7.0 babies died before they reached one year of age. (This is North Carolina's 2009 infant mortality rate). Even worse, there were significant racial and ethnic differences. The North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics matches birth certificates and infant death certificates to determine the following rates:

• White, non-Hispanic: 5.3 deaths per 1,000 live births
• African American, non-Hispanic babies: 12.7 deaths per 1,000
• Hispanic babies: 5.0 deaths per 1,000
• Other, non-Hispanic: 5.2 deaths per 1,000

What Are the Main Causes of Infant Death and Illness?

The three major causes of infant death and illness are:

• Prematurity* and low birthweight**
• Birth defects
• Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

*Prematurity refers to babies who are born too early - before 37 weeks of gestation (pregnancy). In 2009 13.2 percent of infant deaths were due to prematurity. A normal pregnancy is considered to be 40 weeks although the majority of women deliver within two weeks of their due date (between 38 and 42 weeks). Even babies born late preterm (between 34-36 weeks) are at increased risk for health problems.

**Low birthweight refers to babies who are born weighing less than five and a half pounds - often too small to be healthy. In 2009, 11,484 babies (or 9.1 percent of all babies) were born low birthweight in North Carolina. Very low birthweight refers to babies born weighing less than
3 lbs 5 oz. Of the 11,484 low birthweight babies born in 2009 in North Carolina, 2,296 (or 1.8 percent of all babies) were born very low birthweight.

What to Do?

Some infant deaths and illnesses are preventable. Others are not. All are tragedies for families, communities and our state.

The North Carolina Healthy Start Foundation is dedicated to reducing infant death and illness and to improving the health of women and young children in North Carolina. To read more about what we do and how you can help by volunteering or donating, please visit the About Us section of this Web site.

Other Links

North Carolina

NC State Center for Health Statistics - data collection, health-related research, production of reports, and maintenance of a comprehensive collection of health statistics in North Carolina.

National Organizations

March of Dimes - Peristats - city, state, county and national maternal and infant health data.

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Last updated: November 2011