Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Nation Still Only Earns a “C” for Preterm Birth Rate

For the first time ever, rates and grades for major cities or counties in each state (including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico), will be included on the 8th annual March of Dimes Premature Birth Report Card. The report will be issued on November 5th and also will provide preterm birth rates by race and ethnicity for each state and reveals persistent racial and geographical disparities within and among states.

During the tour, your state’s and city’s preterm birth rate and its grade (A through F) on the new Premature Birth Report Card will be revealed. In addition, you’ll hear about what cities and states that earned an “A” grade are doing right, and how states that received an “F” grade can do better; as well as how the March of Dimes helps consumers, doctors, hospitals, and health policy experts with a variety of successful strategies to prevent preterm birth.

The United States earned a ”C” on the report card with a preterm birth rate of 9.6 percent in 2014. The report card shows more than 380,000 babies were born too soon last year. Premature birth is the leading cause of death for newborns, and a major cause of childhood disabilities. Worldwide, 15 million babies are born preterm, and nearly one million die due to complications of an early birth. The U.S. preterm birth rate ranks among the worst of high-resource nations.

According to the March of Dimes report card, there are serious gaps among racial and ethnic groups, as well as among communities. Babies who survive an early birth, face serious and lifelong health problems, including breathing problems, jaundice, vision loss, cerebral palsy and intellectual delays.

The March of Dimes is funding research to identify new medical advances to prevent preterm birth and has invested in a nationwide network of five cutting-edge, team-based research centers seeking to find the unknown causes of preterm birth and ways to prevent it.

The 2015 Report Card information for states and cities will be available online at: marchofdimes.org/reportcard

• Tweet
• Pin It