Comments on: Can a Higher Infant Mortality Rate Be A Good Thing?

By: joseph

joseph — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:17:32 +0000

According to the way statistics are calculated in Canada, Germany, and Austria, a premature baby weighing <500g is not considered a living child.

Which country is Obama from?

By: LactLady

LactLady — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 01:58:13 +0000

Dr Halderman also reports that “Since 2000, 42 of the world’s 52 surviving babies weighing less than 400g (0.9 lbs.) were born in the United States.” That is 80% of these smallest ones.

By: none

none — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:09:00 +0000

Or racism.

By: RR

RR — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:44:20 +0000

In parts of the country where substance abuse and teenage pregnancy is rampant, infant mortality is at levels seen only in underdeveloped countries. It’s certainly not due to lack of medical care.

By: Articles on Health

Articles on Health — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:01:41 +0000

International comparisons are often unreliable because of different standards for statistical gathering. When journalists worry how India is cranking out tens of thousands of engineers, they neglect to notice that in India “engineer” includes mechanic and repairman as well as the American B.S. degree.

By: radicalcatholicmom

radicalcatholicmom — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:34:10 +0000

Very very interesting post, BA.

By: DarwinCatholic

DarwinCatholic — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:21:48 +0000

David,

Clearly not, but I wonder if those figures are normalized for factors such as maternal substance abuse and obesity.

In other words, is it a reflection of failing to provide the same health care to members of different ethnic groups, or is it a result of a cultural tendency towards bad health (probably correlating strongly to poverty) in a specific ethnic group.

By: blackadderiv

blackadderiv — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:16:59 +0000

Matt, Nah. I've already done that one.

By: Matt Talbot

Matt Talbot — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:14:33 +0000

Next up from BA: “Do child labor laws harm children?”

By: Zak

Zak — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:09:11 +0000

That’s fascinating. Infant mortality was one of those measures I assumed was standardized world wide.

By: David Nickol

David Nickol — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:56:48 +0000

This doesn’t explain why the infant-mortality rate among blacks in the United States is twice that of whites. I don’t think a higher rate of infant mortality within specific groups in the United States can be a good thing.

By: Kevin J Jones

Kevin J Jones — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:44:20 +0000

Very interesting, though this sadly means more babies are dying than we think.

I’ve heard it said that the US infant mortality rate is also higher because we have a higher number of multiple-baby pregnancies, which are higher risk. Supposedly one reason there are more premature births here is our high number of women who undergo fertility treatments and IVF.

So too with military statistics. When people fret about the size of China’s or N. Korea’s army, they don’t examine whether the military does double-duty as the local police force.