Yesterday, the National Center for Health Statistics released the Data Brief “The Challenge of Fetal Mortality.” Key findings include the following:
- The magnitude of fetal mortality is considerable: About 1 million fetal deaths occur at any gestational age in the United States each year, including almost 26,000 at 20 weeks of gestation or more.
- Even when limited to fetal deaths of 20 weeks of gestation or more, nearly as many fetal deaths as infant deaths occur in the United States each year.
- After decades of decline, the U.S. fetal mortality rate (fetal deaths of 20 weeks of gestation or more) did not decrease from 2003 to 2005.
For more information, please visit the report at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db16.pdf.
NCHStats 