Out-of-hospital births increase

March 17, 2010

A recent report released by NCHS showed an increase in the number of home and out-of-hospital births. In 2006, there were 38,568 out-of-hospital births in the United States, including 24,970 home births and 10,781 births occurring in freestanding birthing centers. The report also found that there was a decline between 1990 and 2004 in the number of out-of-hospital births and then a 3% increase from 2004 to 2005. Similarly, there was also a decline in home births between 1990 and 2004 and then an increase of 5% in 2005. However the number of home births remained steady in 2006.

The report also compared trends in the number of home births among different racial and ethnic groups. Results found that non-Hispanic white women were more likely to have a home birth than women of any other race and ethnicity. Overall, 81% of home births were to non-Hispanic white women, compared with 54% of hospital births.

             For more, visit “Trends and Characteristics of Home and Other Out-of-Hospital Births in the United States, 1990–2006”

Leave a Comment » | Births, Home Births, Vital Statistics System | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Setareh Kamali

What’s your chance of having a Christmas baby?

December 23, 2009

The short answer is, not as high as in other months. Still, the possibility is there. In fact, if you look at the seasonally adjusted birth rates by month, your chances in December are just as good as having a baby in March or May. The lowest rate is April (13.7 live births per 1,000 population), compared with the highest rate in August (14.6). December comes in at 14.2 births per 1,000 population.

But this year, Christmas is on a Friday. How does that figure in? Well, the average number of births in 2006 (most recent data available) ranges from 7,587 live births on Sundays compared with 13,482 on Wednesdays. Fridays come in at a respectable 13,151, although Tuesdays and Thursdays, along with Wednesdays, have a higher average.

But then, that baby will come when it comes, right?

See the tables below for more detail:

Births by Month and Weekday, 2006

Leave a Comment » | Births, Vital Statistics System | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Megan Cox

Report on Hurricane Katrina’s effect on the number of births in the Gulf Region released

August 26, 2009

 

On Friday, August 28, 2009, CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics released “The Effect of Hurricane Katrina: Births in the U.S. Gulf Coast Region, Before and After the Storm.” The report documents how births were impacted in 91 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) designated counties and parishes of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi for a 12-month period before and after Hurricane Katrina (August 29, 2004 to August 28, 2006). Visit the NCHS Press Room for more information.

Leave a Comment » | Births, Mothers, National Center for Health Statistics, Vital Statistics System | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Megan Cox

Latest trends in infant mortality available. U.S. ranked 29th in world, down from 23d in 1990

October 15, 2008

The U.S. infant mortality rate was 6.78 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2004, the latest year that data are available for all countries.  Infant mortality rates were generally lowest (below 3.5 per 1,000) in selected Scandinavian (Sweden, Norway, Finland) and East Asian (Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore) countries.  Twenty-two countries had infant mortality rates below 5.0 in 2004. 

 

The findings are published in a new Data Brief “Recent Trends in Infant Mortality in the United States.”  The data come from the Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set and Preliminary Mortality Data File, collected through the National Vital Statistics System. For more information, click here.

Leave a Comment » | Births, Deaths, infant mortality, Vital Statistics System | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Megan Cox