Infant mortality, here and elsewhere

Posted on November 7, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

If you’re a baby, you’ve got a greater chance of surviving into your toddler years if you’re born in godless Europe and other less zealous Western and Asian nations than in religious America.   Premature births, often brought on by drinking, drug use, and smoking, as well as accidents, assaults, and homicides, explain the higher rates of infant mortality in the U.S., with its allegedly superior moral commitment  and “culture of life,” compared to other wealthy countries.

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11 Responses to Infant mortality, here and elsewhere

  1. Aaron says:
    November 7, 2009 at 12:18 pm

    Do white European babies have a higher survival rate than white American babies? (I won’t even bother checking the New York Times article for an answer to that question.) The factoid I’ve seen is that there’s a substantial racial effect on infant survival in America even after controlling for the factors listed by HMD. And of course some of the risk factors listed may quite possibly themselves be influenced by genetic variation between races.

  2. Aaron says:
    November 7, 2009 at 12:25 pm

    @Aaron
    Correction: the factoid was that black women have a higher rate of premature births even after controlling for all those risk factors, as well as socio-economic differences.

  3. Anonymous Coward says:
    November 7, 2009 at 12:55 pm

    This is inaccurate. Very premature babies are left to die in most of the world and so they do not count as infant deaths (they’re considered stillborn). In the US, no matter how premature the baby it generally gets full care but most of the really early ones still die, getting counted into our infant mortality statistics. I know you love slamming religious folks every chance you get but it’s that “culture of life” that contributes to these efforts and the skewed statistics in this case.

    FWIW, I’m an atheist and don’t much like religious folks but I like bad statistics and weak arguments even less.

  4. Susan says:
    November 7, 2009 at 5:27 pm

    I can’t cite the source for this, but I recall reading a few years ago that many countries other than the U.S. have different ways of tabulating newborn survival rates. In quite a few places, an infant that survives only a few minutes after live birth is counted as a “live birth.” In the U.S., it isn’t. So that would skew the statistics. As for premature births, the U.S. isn’t the only country where expectant mothers engage in drinking, smoking, and drug use. Nor is it the only country in which they’re assaulted or murdered. And frankly, were I an expectant mother at risk of delivering prematurely, I’d feel more comfortable at Mass. General Hospital or Brigham and Women’s than I would in a mud hut attended by six chickens and a goat.

  5. Chris says:
    November 7, 2009 at 8:22 pm

    Anonymous Coward :

    Anonymous Coward
    This is inaccurate. Very premature babies are left to die in most of the world and so they do not count as infant deaths .

    Sources, please, AC.

  6. Chris says:
    November 7, 2009 at 8:28 pm

    Anonymous Coward :

    Anonymous Coward
    This is inaccurate. Very premature babies are left to die in most of the world and so they do not count as infant deaths .

    Sources, please, AC. Especially for first world countries since the gist of the article appears to be a comparison between the US and Europe.

  7. philip gahtan says:
    November 8, 2009 at 4:23 am

    1. multiple births higher here 2. caesarians are higher here. 3. age of women. 4.when does life begin? 6 months from conception? 7 months? or is it by weight? 2 pounds? 3? 5.race

  8. philip gahtan says:
    November 8, 2009 at 4:41 am

    1. multiple births higher here 2. caesarians are higher here. 3. age of women. 4.when does life begin? 6 months from conception? 7 months? or is it by weight? 2 pounds? 3? 5.race? 6. ferility rates. the lower the rate the higher the survival.
    .

  10. kurt9 says:
    November 11, 2009 at 4:09 pm

    I heard that most premature births in the U.S. are caused by drug or alcohol abuse on the part of the birth mother. Is this true?

  11. Nate says:
    November 18, 2009 at 3:25 pm

    Also we have very high elective interventions. C-sections, inductions and so on. Also the AAP and others push a very aggressive vaccine schedule compared to other nations.

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