Infant mortality falls faster in Mississippi than U.S.

Mississippi’s infant mortality rate is falling faster than the nation’s.

Between 2005 and 2013, the infant mortality rate declined 13 percent in the U.S. and 15 percent in Mississippi. If the drop in 2014 is included, the state’s rate plummeted 28 percent.

“It’s important to celebrate these improvements,” said State Health Officer Dr. Mary Currier, “but we still have a higher infant mortality rate compared to the rest of the country.”

A decade ago, the mortality rate of Mississippi infants 1 year or younger was 11.4 deaths for every 1,000 births. By last year, that figure had fallen to 8.2 (with the national average at 5.9).

Mississippi saw its biggest improvement in 2014 in a region that needed it the worst — the Delta.

Back in 2013, the region suffered from an infant mortality rate of 12.4. But by the end of 2014, it had dropped to 8.2, which is the same as the statewide rate.

The Gulf Coast fell below the statewide rate, from 9.2 to 7.5.

“The rates are high in both races,” Currier said, “but it is decreasing.”

In 2005, the infant mortality rate for black Mississippians hit 17, the highest level in recent decades. But the rate has fallen since to 11.2, accounting for much of the state’s recent decline in infant deaths.

In 2008, the rate for white Mississippians rose to 7.4, but the rate has declined since to 5.9.

Dr. Mobolaji Famuyide, medical director for the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, said the Mississippi Perinatal Quality Collaborative has played a major role in these reductions.

She said there has also been an improvement in health care access across Mississippi through telehealth and new UMMC graduates heading to smaller towns.

Because half of all infant deaths happen on the first day of life, the March of Dimes is pushing to reduce the number of premature babies — about 380,000 (1 in 10 nationally).

The March of Dimes recently awarded Mississippi the Virginia Apgar Award for reducing premature births by 11 percent.

The award went to states that reduced their infant mortality rate by 8 percent or more between 2009 and 2014.

The bad news was Mississippi also received an “F” this year on the March of Dimes report card on premature birth.

“Even though we are at the bottom of heap, we are improving,” Currier said. “We just need to keep our focus.”

March of Dimes officials have set a goal of reducing the birth rate of premature babies to 8.1 percent by 2020 and 5.5 percent by 2030, which they estimate would save $70 billion.

Dr. Charlene Collier, director of the Mississippi Perinatal Quality Collaborative, said a new drug being given to at-risk mothers is helping in the fight.

“Evidence shows it can prolong pregnancy,” said Collier, assistant professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UMMC. “Mothers are able to carry their babies longer than previous babies.”

Unfortunately, the new drug costs $690 for a single dose and $13,800 for the 20-week regimen, she said. “Many moms are not receiving it.”

On another front, Mississippi’s health providers are pushing mothers to quit smoking, which can reduce a baby’s weight and cause other health problems. A fifth of Mississippi mothers whose infants died in 2014 smoked during the pregnancy.

About 13 percent of mothers quit before delivery.

Mothers that do return to smoking after their babies are born put them at risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, she said.

Mississippi has also seen better spacing between births, she said. “There needs to be at least 18 months between to help reduce the risk.”

Health Department officials have also succeeded in getting hospitals to reduce early elective deliveries before 39 weeks. Out of the 44 Mississippi hospitals that deliver babies, 38 have agreed to bar such births.

In 2014, these early elective deliveries declined from 18 percent to 11 percent, Collier said. “Hopefully, they’ll go a little lower.”

The campaign is getting help this year from Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi, which stopped covering early elective deliveries in January.

Other factors play a key role in high rates of infant mortality.

“Mississippi is at the epicenter of the obesity epidemic,” Currier said. “We have high rates of obesity and low rates of vegetable consumption.”

Better access to healthy foods would help, she said. “If your local grocery store is 25 miles away and you stop for gas, it’s easier for you to get tater logs and fried chicken for your hungry kids.”

Better access to safe physical activity would also help mothers, she said.

To aid this cause, Mississippi lawmakers have made it easier for public schools to open the doors to their gyms, giving places to communities to exercise.

Earlier this year, lawmakers voted to give the department $1 million to help fight infant mortality.

Over the past several years, health officials have pushed an awareness campaign to help parents and caretakers prevent the sudden, unexpected deaths of infants. Since 2008, these deaths have declined 53 percent in Mississippi.

Innovative approaches are seeking to reduce infant mortality in other ways.

Famuyide said UMMC, where she is an associate professor in neonatology, has received an initial grant of $150,000 from the Kellogg Foundation to increase mothers’ use of breastfeeding in the Mississippi Delta.

She said breastfeeding improves the health of babies, decreases infant mortality and increases the bonding between mother and child.

“It’s the cheapest immunity protection you can provide to a baby,” she said. “It’s an easy natural vaccine.”

Her dream is that funds saved through fewer high-cost births could go to aid lives in other ways, she said. “Channel that money to improve education.”

Currier believes the number of baby deaths can be reduced in Mississippi. “If we only see ourselves at the bottom of the heap, we can become fatalistic,” she said. “If we all work together, we can improve the situation.”

Contact Jerry Mitchell at jmitchell@jackson.gannett.com or (601) 961-7064. Follow @jmitchellnews on Twitter.

Mississippi infant mortality rate:
2005: 11.4
2010: 9.7
2014: 8.2
Source: State Department of Health

The department has pushed an awareness campaign to let parents know the ABCS:
A) place the child alone 
B) place on his or her back
C) place the child in a crib
S) place the child in a smoke-free environment