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Perinatal Indicators - Infant Mortality
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The number of babies that die in the first year of life is a critical measurement of the health of mothers, newborns and infants. Infant Mortality measures the number and rate of babies that die within the first year (between 0 and 365 days) after birth.
Babies that die within the first 28 days after birth are considered Neonatal Deaths.
Babies that die between 29 and 365 days after birth are called Post Neonatal Deaths.
These two groups combined and reported as a number divided by the number of live births are the Infant Mortality Rate.
Generally, more than two thirds of the babies that die in the first year are neonatal deaths, occurring in the first four weeks after the birth.
The most common reasons that babies die before their first birthday in the United States include the following: birth defects; prematurity/low birthweight; sudden infant death syndrome; maternal complications of pregnancy and respiratory distress syndrome.
What does this mean for Los Angeles County?
Los Angeles County Infant Mortality rates are lower than the US overall but higher than the California rate.
• The US infant mortality rate in 2004 was 6.8, California's 5.2, and LA County's was 5.0 per 1,000 live births infant mortality rate. All rates are higher than recommended Healthy People 2010 goals of no more than 4.5 infant deaths per 1,000 live births.
• Despite having overall infant mortality rates that are considerably better than the U.S. rates, significant racial and ethnic disparities and regional disparities exist in Los Angeles County.
•In 2005, infant mortality washighest in Antelope Valley (SPA 1) and South (SPA 6). With rates of 6.6 and 5.7 respectively. Both SPAs' rates have decreased in recent years. SPA 5 had the lowest infant mortality rate, 2.6 and the fewest deaths overall. SPA 2 had the greatest number of of infant deaths with 149.
• Similar to national rates, LA County's African American families suffer disproportionately high rates of infant mortality at 10.7 deaths per 1,000 live births, compared with Caucasians (4.6), Hispanics (4.8) and Asian/Pacific Islanders (2.5). However, the greatest number of infant deaths (455) in 2005 were to Hispanics.
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2005 Data
Infant Mortality- LA County by SPA.
Infant Mortality- LA County by Race/Ethnicity
Trends in Infant Mortality from 1996-2002
for LA County for each ethnic group.
Infant Mortality, Neonatal Mortality, and Post Neonatal Mortality:
LAC-DHS, Maternal, Child & Adolescent Programs
Infant mortality by SPA, zipcode, and community:
The Children's Planning Council
Data on Los Angeles County and California Infant Mortality:
March of Dimes-Peristats website
For additional data for LA County, and California, please see the following websites:
LAC-DHS, Maternal, Child & Adolescent Programs
Infant mortality by SPA, zipcode, and community:
United Way of Greater Los Angeles
Run online queries for birthweight categories, prenatal care onset, ethnicity, and maternal age for LA County data:
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