Changes in Infant Mortality and Its Disparity by Socioeconomic Status: U.S.A., 2000-2006

Jay H. Kim, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Using the linked births/infant death data sets from the National Center for Health Statistics of CDC, infant mortality rates (IMR) for 2000-2006 will be calculated to study whether disparity still exists among race-sex and socioeconomic status (SES) groups. The trend of IMR during the study period will be tracked and the observed differences in different time periods will be plotted on national maps by health service area (HSA). HSAs were constructed based on the pattern of hospital usage by Medicare patients (Makuc, 1992). Five SES groups have been constructed using 14 social and economic variables from the 2000 Census. The preliminary results indicate that the IMRs decreased during the study period while disparity remained among SES and race-sex groups. IMR and SES are inter-related as the higher IMR rates are concentrated in the areas with lower SES.