Return to Table of Contents Go to Map
Neonatal Mortality Rate
Neonatal deaths are a subset of infant deaths. A neonatal death is an
infant death that occurs less than 28 days after birth. The life may
be measured in terms of minutes, hours, days, or weeks.
In 2001, there were 171 neonatal deaths and 36,982 live births in
Arkansas. These 171 deaths accounted for about 56 percent of the 307
infant deaths in the state that year. Most of these deaths are
attributable to causes having their origin in the prenatal period.
Over one of every five neonatal deaths is due to congenital anomalies.
The Neonatal Mortality Rate is calculated in a manner very similar to
the Infant Mortality Rate. Neonatal Mortality Rate = (171/36,982) X
1,000 = 4.6 neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births. The neonatal
mortality rate for the United States in 2001 was 4.5.
Although Calhoun County had the highest average at 17.6, it should be
noted that only seven neonatal deaths occurred in this county for the
five-year period (0 in 1999,1 in 1997and 2 in 1998, 2000 and 2001).
This rate demonstrates the need for caution in using these rates.
For the Public Health Regions, the average neonatal mortality rate
ranged from a low of 3.8 in the Northwest region to a high of 5.7 in
the Southeast region.
Neonatal mortality is similar to infant mortality in that there are
significant differences by race. The five-year average rate for Whites
was 4.2, versus 8.6 for Blacks.
The year-to-year pattern for neonatal mortality in Arkansas, like that
of infant mortality, peeked in 1998 at 5.7. The other years are 5.1 or
lower.
Nationally, neonatal mortality rates, like infant mortality rates, have
exhibited a steady decline, moving from 8.5 in 1980 to 4.5 in 2001.
Return to Table of Contents Go to Map