The Problem Of Poor Birth Outcomes

Yet, these preterm births and the deaths can be stopped and prevented with established, low cost involvements. There is a prominent, noticeable and

According to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, “In the United States, nearly thirteen percent of babies are born preterm, and many of these babies also have a low birth weight.” The baby may be put into the NICU for varies reasons. However, the most common reason that a child is put into the NICU is because he or she is

“Compared with European Americans, African American infants experience disproportionately high rates of low birth weight (LBW) and preterm delivery and are more than twice as likely to die during their 1st year of life”(Giscombé, C. L., & Lobel, M., 2005). The infant mortality rate for African Americans is 13.7 deaths per 1000 live births, more than twice the rate (5.7) for White Americans in the U.S. (Kung, Hoyert, Xu, & Murphy, 2008). A lot of the racial disparity in infant mortality can be explained by low birthweight and preterm delivery, which are also disproportionately and often experienced by African Americans (Martin et al., 2007).

One important health disparity is the lack of prenatal care amongst women in socially disadvantaged populations. These predominately include women of minorities, women who have a low income, and the location these women live in. This health disparity is important to address because research has shown that women who receive prenatal care are more likely to conceive babies of a healthy birth weight and have low infant mortality rates than those women who do not receive this prenatal care ("Putting Women 's Health Disparities on the Map," 2009). Therefore, health disparities amongst women in need of prenatal care have lead to preventable infant mortalities amongst women in vulnerable populations. Three reasons why this health disparity is important to address include the following: health disparities in prenatal care lead to lack of access to prenatal care to women in vulnerable populations, there are increased adverse health outcomes for both the infant and mother, and there are excess medical expenses that could otherwise have been prevented. Because “prematurity is the leading cause of newborn death in the United States” (“Healthy Mothers and Healthy babies,” 2013), finding and developing a solution will be extremely beneficial and needs to begin with addressing prenatal care.

Premature birth is an important public health priority in terms of health of women and infants. Every year an estimated 15 million preterm babies are born and this number is still rising (WHO, 2015).In 2014, 1 of every 10 babies born in United States were premature and black infants were 50% more likely to be born premature than white, Hispanic and Asian/Pacific islander infants (CDC,2015). Almost 1 million children die each year due to complications of premature birth (WHO, 2015). Major survivors face lifelong disabilities like learning disabilities, hearing, visual, feeding, digestive, breathing and respiratory problems (CDC, 2015) and low birth weight (March of Dimes, 2014). A major challenge in decreasing the rate of preterm birth is

According to Healthy People 2020, "Improving the well-being of mothers, infants, and children, is an important public health goal for the United States. Their well-being determines the health of the next generation and can help predict future public health challenges for families, communities, and the health care system" (Healthy People 2020, 2015). Infant mortality is defined as the death of an infant before his or her first birthday, while fetal mortality is defined as the intrauterine death of a fetus at any gestational age (MMRW, 2013 and MacDorman, Kirmeyer & Wilson, 2012). In the United States an estimated 13,000 fetal deaths occurred ≥ 28 weeks gestation making up 28% of all perinatal deaths in 2006, the latest year with available national data (Lee,

Discuss disparities related to ethnic and cultural groups relative to low birth weight infants and preterm births.

In the United States, the process of childbirth is far more dangerous for African American women than it is for White women. For African American women, the path to a healthy birth is riddled with barriers. There are many health disparities between the two races. African American women face much higher low-birth and infant mortality rates; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published that although infant mortality rates in the U.S. have dropped by over 10% in the past ten years, a large gap continues to exist between the health of the races during the entire childbirth process. (World Health Organization, 2010) In the United States, Black infants are more than twice as likely to die within the first year of life as a White infant, and this disparity has not seen advancements in the last century. Many of these deaths can be attributed to low birth weight, and preterm birth among black infants.

The U.S. infant mortality rate is 5.7 per 1000 births and 1.5 in Canada although has declined over the past several decades (O'Neill & O'Neill, 2007). Low-birth weight babies have a better chance at survival in the U.S. than in Canada due to advances in medical technology and expenditures on intensive care units (O'Neill & O'Neill, 2007). The reason there are more infant mortality rates in the U.S. is because there are more infants born weighing very little than compared to Canada.

The San Luis, AZ rate of low-weight births is that of 59.7 per 1,000 births this rate is actually lower than the state rate of 70.6 per 1,000 births (San Luis PCA, 2016). Although this rate is lower than the state rate it still remains as a concern as the county wide rate did increase within 2 years (Arizona Health Matters, 2016). Given that low-birth weight, prenatal care, and infant mortality can be interconnected the lack of appropriate care and the rising trend in the delivery of low-weight births will impact the rate of infant mortality directly within the community.

Oddly enough, even with all the medical technological brought forth by the US we are still ranked with a higher infant death rate than Japan. In a study published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and titled "America's Health Starts with Healthy Children: How do States Compare?” the report found that the high infant death rate is correlated with the lack of education of the mother. Access to healthcare is another correlation to the problem since about 45 million Americans, or 15 percent of the population, are now estimated to be without any form of health insurance (O'Connor, 2008).

Low birth weight (LBW), defined as an infant weighing less than 2500g at birth, and very low birth weight (VLBW), infants <1500g, are health outcomes that themselves are indicators of future health outcomes, as well as present and future morbidity and mortality risk (“Birth Outcomes,” 2017). A large component of these associated outcomes are neurobehavioral, manifesting as impaired cognitive and language development measured in childhood, as well as lower IQ, poorer academic achievement, and reduced executive function measured later on (Aarnoudse-Moens et al., 2009; Barre et al., 2011; Hack et al., 2002; Linsell et al., 2015; Litt et al., 2012). Although decreasing in prevalence, neurosensory impairments, such as cerebral palsy, blindness,

Birth outcomes not only predict immigrant health outcomes, they also may determine factors affecting health behaviors of foreign-born immigrants and U.S.-born Americans. Research articles on immigrant infants’ health indicate despite parents’ ethnicity, newborns from foreign-born immigrant mothers have lower rates of low birth weight and fewer preterm births than newborns from U.S.- born mothers. Reducing preterm (<2500g) births are important for perinatal health because preterm and low birth weight put babies at a higher risk of perinatal morbidity and mortality (Urquia, Frank & Glazier 2010). Low birth weight is associated with higher risks of congenital anomalies, neurodevelopmental and behavioral disorders, and generally poorer child health

Prematurity is the prime cause of infants’ morbidity and mortality in the United States. Premature infants (preemies) invariably experience immediate health complications that may negatively affect their survival. Now medical advances make it possible for even the most severe premature babies to survive. However, the cost associated to treat preemies is significantly high. The cost of the stay considerably influenced by the length of the hospital stay (LOS). Although, many follow-up programs with a definitive goal to abbreviate LOS and its associated costs, have been introduced in the different regions of the U.S. Yet, it is vital to compare the post program LOS with the baseline data to determine if these programs shortened the hospital

Prenatal care is widely accepted as an important element in improving pregnancy outcome. (Gorrie, McKinney, Murray, 1998). Prenatal care is defined as care of a pregnant woman during the time in the maternity cycle that begins with conception and ends with the onset of labor. A medical, surgical, gynecologic, obstretic, social and family history is taken (Mosby's Medical, Nursing, and Allied Health Dictionary, 1998). It is important for a pregnant woman as well as our society to know that everything that you do has an effect on your baby. Because so many women opt not to receive the benefits of prenatal care, our society sees the ramification, which include a variety of complications primarily