Birth Statistics in the US by Jennifer Weaver, PhD

2024-10-22 18:36:40 UTC

"In 2017, non-hispanic black infants experienced the highest mortality rate in the United States at 11 deaths per 1,000 live births."

One surprising fact I found is that Idaho has one of the lowest cesarean rates in the U.S. for 2022, at 24.4%. This is quite different from states like Mississippi, where the rate is 38.5%. I was also surprised that Idaho's rate only increased by 5.6 percentage points from 1990 to 2022, which is relatively small compared to states like Rhode Island, where the rate went up by 13.9 percentage points.

2024-10-22 19:29:34 UTC

-Kaitlyn Shelly

“International studies suggest that home and birth center births may be as safe as hospital births for low- risk women and that neonatal risk can be substantially reduced when:

corinnabartolott — 2024-10-22 19:44:25 UTC

(1) they are part of an integrated, regulated system; (2) providers are well qualified and have the knowledge

and training to manage first-line complications;

(3) transfer is seamless across settings; and

(4) appropriate risk assessment and risk selection occur across settings and throughout pregnancy.”

In the United States,the report provides information and graphs showing that while there has been an overall increase in home births between 1990 and 2009 and a 71% increase from 2004-2016, most of the rise is due to non-Hispanic white women.

2024-10-22 19:58:09 UTC

An interesting statistic I found is "Massachusetts has the lowest infant mortality rate, with 3.66 deaths per every 1,000 live births. The state with the highest infant mortality rate is Mississippi, with 8.73 deaths per 1,000 live births".

2024-10-23 01:14:47 UTC

An interesting statistic I found was "The overall cesarean rate by age in the U.S. in 2021 for women 50 years and older is 67.1%" I was not expecting that simply because I always thought the recovery from a c-section was harsher on the body than a vaginal birth.

ashlynnwilkins — 2024-10-23 02:19:05 UTC

2024-10-23 02:34:35 UTC

An interesting fact that I found was that the timing with the largest amount of maternal deaths, at 30%, occurred 43-365 days postpartum. This was compared to deaths before delivery (21.6%), day of delivery (13.2%), 1-6 days PPM (12%), and 7-42 days PPM (23.3%). Prior to reading about maternal mortality, I assumed the largest amount would occur on the day of delivery or shortly after due to complications.

United States maternal mortality rates from 1951-1982 declined greatly, by 98%. From 1982-1998 there was no significant change. However, from 1997-2007 there was a 78% increase in mortality rates.

2024-10-23 15:53:32 UTC

2024-10-23 16:30:32 UTC

I found it interesting West Virginia had the highest out of hospital births in 1950 for Whites, being 32.3%. The highest non-white percentage was from Mississippi with 81.1%.

I found it very interesting that Asian infants had the lowest mortality rate at 3.78 deaths per every 1,000 live births, and non-hispanic Whites also had the second lowest at 4.76 deaths per 1,000 lives births.

2024-10-23 16:52:24 UTC

2024-10-23 18:00:16 UTC

One thing I found interesting about the Maternal Death statistics was that the highest number of maternal deaths occurred 43-365 days postpartum at 30% of total maternal deaths.

2024-10-23 18:44:24 UTC

One interesting statistic I found from this website is the jumping rates of cesarean sections that are being done. From 1989-2007 the percent of cesarean sections was always under 14% however now we see from the graph that the percentages are 15% and above which is surprising and it looks like they are still going up.

Midwifery

2024-10-23 19:19:26 UTC

Births Attended by Medical Professionals in 2020:

Majority of births were attended by Doctor's of Medicine (MD), Certified Nurse Midwife's (CNM), or Doctor's of Osteopathy (DO).

Statistics of Number of Births:

2,853,659: MD
372,991: CNM
318,094 DO

Midwifery

2024-10-23 19:28:55 UTC

One fact that I found on the website that I found surprising is that "qualitative data from the Listening to Mothers III (2013) and Listening to Mothers in California (2018) surveys indicate that lack of insurance coverage or high cost of midwifery care is a commonly cited reason for not having a midwife among birthing people who initially wanted one for their most recent birth."

Maternal Mortality Percentage Postpartum

2024-10-23 20:20:54 UTC

One fact I found interesting was that Maternal Mortality can occur 46-365 days after birth. 30.0 % of maternal mortality happened ppm 46 -365 days after in 2017-2019. the Second highest is 23.3% from 7 -42 days postpartum. This interested me because I thought maternal mortality only counted for if the mother dies while pregnant or during birth not days or even a year after it happens. Only 13.2% of Maternal deaths occur on the day of delivery.

2024-10-23 21:04:44 UTC

One fact that I found interesting is that in 2017, non-Hispanic black infants experienced the highest mortality rate in the United States, at 11 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Breastfeeding Fact

2024-10-23 21:45:02 UTC

"Based on data from the NSCH (18-19), children under the age of 3 born to parent(s) who were not born in the United States are more likely to have ever been breastfed." Although this doesn't extremely surprise me because the US doesn't put as much of an emphasis on the importance of breastfeeding, I didn't realize that it was that much of a difference! I think this is a prime example of the differences in mindsets around pregnancy and infant care in different countries.

Maternal Mortality Percentage Before Delivery

2024-10-23 22:12:29 UTC

One fact that I found was that 21.6% of maternal deaths actually occurred before delivery in 2017-2019. I thought this statistic was interesting because I thought this statistic would be a lot higher than the postpartum mortality rates. The most mortality actually occurs 43-365 days postpartum at 30%.

Cesarian Rates

2024-10-23 22:30:26 UTC

One interesting statistic I found was how much higher cesarian rates are for non-hispanic black women than non-hispanic white women. In the U.S. overall, the rate of black women having cesarians was 31.1% in 2022, while it was 36.8% in 2022 for white women. Just looking at both of the graphs all across the board in every state, the rates for cesarians go up for black women.

A statistic that stood out to me is that infant mortality for African American infants has consistently been twice as likely compared to infant mortality for White infants from 1980-2017.

2024-10-24 00:12:21 UTC

Infant Mortality

2024-10-24 00:15:44 UTC

I found that "Cubans have the lowest IMR among Hispanic populations at 3.98 deaths per 1,000 live births, which is followed by Central and South America (4.48), Mexican (5.05), Puerto Rican (6.48), with the overall Hispanic IMR at 5.10 per 1,000 live births".

Home or Hospital Births

nicolasramos31 — 2024-10-24 08:29:02 UTC

From a sample of 759 women who gave birth in a hospital setting: 10.3% stated their privacy were violated, 12.9% reported a healthcare provider scolding or yelling at them, 12.6% said they were ignored when they requested something, 6.6% were told they were receiving treatment they didn't want.

Out of hospital births

2024-10-24 17:40:36 UTC

Something interesting to me is that nearly 45% of all births in the year of 1940 happened outside hospitals. Knowing what we know now about how much safer being in a hospital is, it is wild that society advanced so quickly but that this was still just ~80 years ago.

Infant Mortality

2024-10-24 17:52:08 UTC

In 2018, the US Infant Mortality Rate was 5.57 deaths per 1000 live births. However what surprised me is when you look at each individual state, both Arkansas and Mississippi had the highest IMR of 8.00+ which makes me wonder why.

2024-10-24 19:09:22 UTC

"While the pregnancy related mortality rate has remained steady since 2010, the overall death rate for women 15-44 has increased by 13% through 2019 and 59% overall when the pandemic is taken into account." This was something interesting I took away from the text due to the fact that the pandemic raised these rates for maternal morality.

2024-10-24 19:54:21 UTC

One fact I find interesting is that 64% of women wouldn't be open to giving birth at home. I wonder if it's because of the assumptions most women have developed through media on child birth.

Breastfeeding

2024-10-24 21:35:20 UTC

One surprising fact that I found is that some hospitals discourage breastfeeding and only 35% of women intended to breastfeed.

Breastfeeding

2024-10-24 22:58:44 UTC

One surprising fact from the report is that while 67% of women intended to exclusively breastfeed their babies, only 76% of those who had that intention were actually able to do so. This gap between intention and reality highlights the challenges many mothers face in meeting their breastfeeding goals, despite their strong intentions to breastfeed. It underscores the importance of support from healthcare providers and the environment in which mothers give birth.

Out of Hospital Births

2024-10-24 23:21:14 UTC

One fact that interested me was the percentage differences in out-of-hospital births between white and nonwhite people. This percentage covered nine different states and their statistics, with Mississippi having the highest percentage for out-of-hospital births among nonwhite people. It showed that while only 17% of white people had home births in that state, 81% of nonwhite women had home births. The differences were 42% for nonwhite people and 7% for white people.

Infant Mortality

2024-10-24 23:43:02 UTC

One fact I found incredibly interesting was that in 2017, the leading cause of infant mortality was congenital malformations. I thought this was interesting, given how aware we are of teratogens. I also thought it was a timely fact given what we learned about in the last module in genetic testing. The fact that congenital birth defects are the leading cause of infant mortality would suggest that we really do have a long way to go with fetal and genetic testing. Maybe if we had a safer and more accurate way to check on baby's progress, the outcome would be different.

lmkool2015 — 2024-10-25 00:56:10 UTC

I found it interesting when looking at the statistics for out of hospital births, there was a, lot of evidence to prove that home births can be as safe as hospital births. “International studies suggest that home and birth center births may be as safe as hospital births for low-risk women". I found this interesting to look at these statistics, because I would've thought it would be much more safe to give birth in a hospital.

Breastfeeding

2024-10-25 03:45:12 UTC

One thing I found super interesting and shocking was the stat that said "In hospitals with staff who discouraged breastfeeding, only 35% of women who intended to breastfeed exclusively did so". This is surprising because it shows how essential hospital staff support is for successful breastfeeding, as only 35% of mothers managed to breastfeed exclusively when they faced discouragement.

2024-10-25 16:47:27 UTC

One surprising fact I found is that there is 5.57 death per 1000 births. This is from the provisional 2018 US infant mortality rate.

2024-10-25 16:49:44 UTC

One thing I thought was interesting was the fact that midwives are all experiencing upward trends. However, as midwives typically attend low-risk births, one cannot deduce that the number of low-risk births in the U.S. is also increasing, which is great for mothers and newborns!

2024-10-25 17:23:12 UTC

I found that births that had a midwife in attendance experienced lower mortality rates than those that did not. However, this could be due to the fact that births with midwives are often considered to be lowrisk.

Induced Laborers

2024-10-25 18:07:02 UTC

A surprising fact I found about induced labor patients was that in 2018, many of the women did not have to receive an induction. The number of induced laborers is mostly in hospitals, around 30% or higher, compared to midwives, about 7%.

I was fascinated to see that in 2022 Idaho had one of the highest rates of home births in the U.S., at 4.2% when the average among U.S. states was 1.47%. I was just really surprised because I would not have guessed that Idaho would have such a high home birth rate.

2024-10-25 18:07:10 UTC

C-Sections

2024-10-25 19:02:36 UTC

I found it interesting that the cesarean rate increased from 20.7% in 1996 to 32.1% in 2021. This means that if the rate would've stayed the same as in 1996 there would've been 416,000 fewer c-sections. I can't help but wonder what changed to where there is that many more c-sections being preformed.

Breastfeeding

2024-10-25 20:09:18 UTC

I found it super interesting that in hospitals with staff supporting breastfeeding, 97% of women who intended to breastfeed did so exclusively (76%) or both breastfed and fed formula (21%). However, in hospitals with staff who discouraged breastfeeding, only 35% of women who intended to breastfeed exclusively did so. I think this goes to show that support and education to women hoping to breastfeed is so important so that they are blessed to meet their goals and give the best care they can to their child without the hit on their mental health.

White vs non-white non-hospital births

2024-10-25 20:24:57 UTC

I found it very interesting that there is a significant difference between the rather of non-hospital births between white vs non-white races in 1950. There is nearly a 50% difference between the two race categories with white deemed racing having more hospital based births. Could this be due to a more “westernizing” approach at this time period?

At home birth

oliviahardee1 — 2024-10-25 21:16:56 UTC

I read a statistic that represented how people answered the question "For future births, how open would you be to giving birth at home?" 64% of people said they definitely would not want to. This surprised me because the slide before that showed that women support and encourage women to experience at home births. I think the only method of birth that's known by all is hospitals, but if we talked, learned and listened about at home births more maybe people would be more open to it.

Out of Hospital Births

2024-10-25 21:20:07 UTC

"If a woman wants to have her baby at home, she should be able to." The statistics following this statement were encouraging in finding out that 66% of those surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that women should be able to choose if they can have a home birth. However, it was even more surprising to learn that 11% disagree or somewhat disagree. I don't see why anyone should care if a woman prefers to have at-home births for her own children.

Vaginal Birth After Cesareans

2024-10-25 21:33:21 UTC

By 2023, the Vaginal Birth After Cesareans (VBAC) rate in the U.S. had a significant decline followed by a slow and gradual increase. In early 2000s, VBAC rate dropped with nearly 10% decline from January 2000 to December 2001. It continued to drop until 2005, when it started to rise slowly. Reaching only about 14.2% by 2021 and 14.6% by 2022.

A surprising fact I found amount breastfeeding was that White women were least likely to be satisfied with the duration of breastfeeding (31%) while Asian/Pacific Islander mothers were most likely to be satisfied (61%). I wonder why race makes a difference with the satisfaction of breast feeding.

2024-10-25 22:02:05 UTC

2024-10-25 22:15:17 UTC

An interesting fact I learned from the Birth by Numbers website was that a majority of women (66%) believe that if a woman wants to have a baby at home she should be able to. While the majority voting in favor of a home birth wasn't surprising, there was other statistics showing that women who just gave birth in a hospital were still more likely to never consider having a home birth (64%).

2024-10-25 22:16:35 UTC

I found this interesting... "They estimate that the total extra costs of the ‘unnecessary’ cesareans is about $2.32 billion. On the contrary, to provide enough cesareans in countries with underuse would only cost $432 million."

A fun fact that i learned is that only 35% of women intend to breastfeed as well as a lot of hospitals don't even try to get women to breastfeed

2024-10-25 22:19:08 UTC

2024-10-25 22:43:49 UTC

One interesting fact that I saw on the birth by numbers website was that in 2022 Idaho had the highest percentage of at home births. Idaho had 4.2% whereas in Louisiana had 0.3% at home birth rates. However the average percentage was 1.47% throughout the United States.

-Bella Leavitt

C-Sections and Mothers

2024-10-26 00:21:04 UTC

I got to learn more about Cesarean Births is that there are some people who actually believe that it's the woman's fault that she's having a c-section, when that is simply not true. However, I didn't know this, but many people do have c-sections because of their health, but not always. For example, 51% of women who have chronic diabetes do get c-sections compared to 31% with no diabetes. I didn't realize that the woman's health comes in play, but I guess it does make sense.

emmatorr — 2024-10-26 01:19:38 UTC

I found it surprising the high percentage of mistreatment within hospitals. The percentage of mistreatment was 26%. The data for individual mistreatments was 10.3% a violation of privacy, 12.9% being yelled at, 6.6% being threatened of being withheld treatment, and 12.6% being ignored.

Mortality Rates

2024-10-26 01:30:38 UTC

It was interesting to see that the deep south has higher infant mortality rates than that of a state such as Alaska which has a lower infant mortality rate.

It was also that the USA nation that is supposedly so advance has the highest Maternal mortality rate in the world form 2017-2019.

MIDWIFERY - Percent of Total MidWife attended Births By state (2019)

2024-10-26 03:16:51 UTC

The graph shows that Alaska and the western and northern states have the highest percentages of midwives attending births. The national average in 2019 is 10.22%. Factors that could play a role in this are access to healthcare, policies, and certain cultural populations within those states. In Idaho, we are a rural population. This means that midwives will be more beneficial when it comes to providing care in areas where access to a hospital is very limited. It was really interesting to see the percentages in a graph and think about the possible factors that play into them.

At Home Births

2024-10-26 03:36:50 UTC

Something I found interesting was how similar the percent of at home births were throughout 1989, to about 2010 where it began to have a slight increase. In 2020 there was a significant increase in these data points which most likely due to covid, and not wanting to go into hospitals during this time. There was also an increase in general of birth rates during 2020, which is another factor that may be impacting this data.

2024-10-26 03:52:04 UTC

One surprising fact I found was that Washington has the lowest infant mortality rate, with around 4.0 deaths per every 1,000. This is a 0.4% chance of mortality in Washington. On the opposite end, Mississippi has one of the highest rates with around 8.0 deaths per every 1,000, a 0.8% chance.

One surprising fact I found was: "Percentages of midwife-attended births are lower in the middle and southern U.S., whereas higher percentages can be found in Alaska and the western and northeastern U.S."

2024-10-26 04:35:22 UTC