Marian F. MacDorman

TL;DR: This report presents 2013 period infant mortality statistics from the linked birth/infant death data set (linked file) by maternal and infant characteristics, with declines in both neonatal and postneonatal mortality overall and for most groups.

TL;DR: The extreme prematurity of most of the infants and their short survival indicate that reducing infant mortality rates requires a comprehensive agenda to identify, to test, and to implement effective strategies for the prevention of preterm birth.

TL;DR: Increases in primary cesareans in cases of "no indicated risk" have been more rapid than in the overall population and seem the result of changes in obstetric practice rather than changes in the medical risk profile or increases in "maternal request."

TL;DR: In this paper, a pregnancy question was added to the U.S. standard death certificate in 2003 to improve ascertainment of maternal deaths, and the delayed adoption of this question among states led to data incompatibilities, and impeded accurate trend analysis.

TL;DR: The crudeBirth rate in 2002 was 13.9 births per 1000 population, the lowest ever reported for the United States; the number of births, the crude birth rate, and the fertility rate all declined slightly from 2001 to 2002; fertility rates were highest for Hispanic women (94.0), followed by black, followed by Asian or Pacific Islander, Native American, and non-Hispanic white women (57.5).