Infant Mortality/SIDS and Hispanic Americans

Among Hispanic Americans, the infant mortality rate ranges from 4.8 per 1,000 live births for Central and South americans to 7.3 per 1,000 live births for Puerto Ricans. Puerto Rican Americans have a 30% higher infant mortality rate as compared to non-Hispanic Whites. Hispanic mothers are almost twice as more likely to begin prenatal care in the 3rd trimester or not receive prenatal care at all as compared to non-Hispanic white mothers.

In 2008, infant mortality rates for Hispanic subpopulations ranged from 4.8 per 1,000 live births to 7.3 per 1,000 live births, compared to the non-Hispanic white infant mortality rate of 5.6 per 1,000 live births.
In 2008, Puerto Ricans had 1.3 times the infant mortality rate of non-Hispanic whites.
Puerto Rican infants were twice as likely to die from causes related to low birthweight, compared to non-Hispanic white infants.
Mexican American mothers were 1.9 times as likely as non-Hispanic white mothers to begin prenatal care in the 3rd trimester, or not receive prenatal care at all.

At a glance – Infant Mortality Rate:

**Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births, 2008**
Race of Mother	Infant mortality rate	Ratio vs. Non-Hispanic White
Non-Hispanic White	5.6	--
Total Hispanic	5.6	1.0
Mexican	5.6	1.0
Puerto Rican	7.3	1.3
Cuban	4.9	0.9
Central and South American	4.8	0.9

Source: CDC 2012. Infant Mortality Statistics from the 2008 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set. National Vital Statistics Reports. Table 1 and Table 2.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr60/nvsr60_05.pdf [PDF | 498KBB]

At a glance – Leading Causes of Infant Mortality:

**Infant deaths and mortality rates for the top 4 leading cause of death for Hispanics/Latinos, 2008. (Rates per 100,000 live births)**
Cause of Death (By rank)	# Total Hispanic Deaths	Hispanic Death Rate	#Non- Hispanic White Deaths	Non- Hispanic White Death Rate	Hispanic/ Non- Hispanic White Ratio
(1) Congenital malformations	1,523	146.3	2,820	124.3	1.2
(2) Low-Birthweight	939	90.2	1,712	75.5	1.2
(3) Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)	328	31.5	1,238	54.6	0.6
(4) Maternal complications	347	33.3	766	33.8	1.0

Source: CDC 2012. Infant Mortality Statistics from the 2008 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set. National Vital Statistics Reports. Table 5.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr60/nvsr60_05.pdf [PDF | 498KKB]

**Infant deaths and mortality rates for the top 4 leading cause of death for Mexican Americans, 2008. (Rates per 100,000 live births)**
Cause of Death (By rank)	# Mexican Deaths	Mexican Death Rate	Non- Hispanic White Death Rate	Mexican/ Non- Hispanic White Ratio
(1) Congenital malformations	1,055	154.0	124.3	1.2
(2) Low-Birthweight	600	87.6	75.5	1.2
(3) Maternal complications	253	36.9	33.8	1.1
(4) Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)	194	28.3	54.6	0.5

**Infant deaths and mortality rates for the top 4 leading cause of death for Puerto Rican Americans, 2008. (Rates per 100,000 live births)**
Cause of Death (By rank)	# Puerto Rican Deaths	Puerto Rican Death Rate	Non- Hispanic White Death Rate	Puerto Rican/ Non- Hispanic White Ratio
(1) Low-Birthweight	114	165.2	75.5	2.2
(2) Congenital malformations	75	108.7	124.3	0.9
(3) Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)	30	43.5	54.6	0.8
(4) Maternal complications	24	34.8	33.8	1.0

**Infant deaths and mortality rates for the leading cause of death for Central and South Americans, 2008. (Rates per 100,000 live births)**
Cause of Death (By rank)	# Central/South American Deaths	Central/South American Death Rate	Non- Hispanic White Death Rate	Central/South American/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
(1) Congenital malformations	224	144.0	124.3	1.2
(2) Low-Birthweight	121	77.8	75.5	1.0
(3) Maternal Complications	33	21.2	33.8	0.6
(6) Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)	35	22.5	54.6	0.4

At a glance – Prenatal Care:

**Percentage of live births in which mother received prenatal care starting in the 1st trimester, 2008**
Race of Mother	% Received Prenatal Care	Ratio vs. Non-Hispanic White
Non-Hispanic White	76.1	--
Total Hispanic	64.7	0.9
Mexican	63.7	0.8
Puerto Rican	67.2	0.9
Cuban	81.6	1.1
Central and South American	65.9	0.9

Source: CDC 2012. Health United States, 2011. Table 5
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus11.pdf [PDF | 9.8MB]

**Percentage of live births in which mother received prenatal care starting in the 3rd trimester or did not receive prenatal care at all, 2008**
Race of Mother	% Received Late or No Prenatal Care	Ratio vs. Non-Hispanic White
Non-Hispanic White	5.0	--
Total Hispanic	9.1	1.8
Mexican	9.6	1.9
Puerto Rican	7.3	1.5
Cuban	3.1	0.6
Central and South American	8.8	1.8

Source: CDC 2012. Health United States, 2011. Table 5
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus11.pdf [PDF | 9.8MB]

At a glance – Characteristics of Mother:

**Percentage of mothers who smoked cigarettes during pregnancy, 2008**
Race of Mother	% Mothers Who Smoked	Ratio vs. Non-Hispanic White
Non-Hispanic White	16.0	--
Total Hispanic	2.0	0.1
Mexican	1.4	0.1
Puerto Rican	12.2	0.8
Cuban	7.1	0.4
Central and South American	0.7	0.0

Source: CDC 2012. Health United States, 2011. Table 8
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus11.pdf [PDF | 9.8MB]

Infant mortality rates among mothers 20 years of age and over, less than 12 years education, 2005*
Hispanic	Non-Hispanic White	Hispanic/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
5.2	9.3	0.6

Source: CDC 2008. Health United States, 2008. Table 19
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf [PDF | 12.2MB]

Infant mortality rates among mothers 20 years of age and over, with over 13 years education, 2005*
Hispanic	Non-Hispanic White	Hispanic/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
4.6	4.1	1.1

Source: CDC 2008. Health United States, 2008. Table 19
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf [PDF | 12.2MB]

**Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births (All Hispanic Americans), 2008**
Age of mother	Total Hispanic	Non-Hispanic White	Hispanic/Non- Hispanic White Ratio
Under 20 years	7.0	9.0	0.8
20-24 years	5.5	6.7	0.8
25-29 years	5.1	4.9	1.1
30-34 years	4.8	4.3	1.1
35-39 years	6.1	5.1	1.2
40-54 years	8.6	6.7	1.3

Source: CDC 2012. Infant Mortality Statistics from the 2008 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set. National Vital Statistics Reports. Table 2.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr60/nvsr60_05.pdf [PDF | 498KB]

* More recent data is not available from the CDC at this time.

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Content Last Modified: 7/5/2012 9:13:00 AM

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