Black Infant Deaths Twice White Rate

The United States recorded its lowest infant mortality rate ever, but black babies still die at more than twice the rate of whites, and the nation trails much of the developed world, federal researchers said Thursday.

The rate for 1989, the most recent year for which statistics are available, was 9.8 deaths by age 1 for every 1,000 live births, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said. That surpasses the record of 10.0 set the previous year.

Japan has the world’s lowest infant mortality rate, 5.0 for 1987, the latest year for which complete international statistics have been compiled. Sweden was second at 5.7. The United States that year was 24th at 10.1, just behind New Zealand and just ahead of Israel.

“Our international ranking has slipped,” said Dr. Marian F. MacDorman of the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. “In 1980, we were ranked 20th in the world, and now we’re 24th.”

The CDC said increased use of prenatal care would have the greatest impact on infant deaths from every cause other than birth defects.

For 1989, the black infant mortality rate in the United States was 18.6, compared with 8.1 for whites. The leading cause of death for white infants was birth defects; for black infants, it was prematurity or low birth weight.

And the disparity is increasing, the CDC said. The white infant mortality rate dropped 4% from 1988-89, while the black rate actually increased slightly.