Leading Health Indicator 8 Low Birth Weight, Birth Defects and Infant Mortality Florida 2010 Goal for Children and Youth Improve maternal and infant health HP 2010 Goal Improve the health and well being of women, infants, children and families

Fetal deaths (20 or more weeks gestation), infant deaths (first year of life) and infant deaths during the neonatal period (first 27 days of life) are important indicators of maternal and infant health. While fetal death rates for the U.S. and Florida have dropped over 20 percent since 1980, Florida rates have been consistently higher than the U.S. average. Florida infant and neonatal deaths dropped lower than U.S. rates in 1995 and neonatal death rates remained slightly lower through most of the period between 1996 and 2001. Between 1995 and 2001, Florida's infant mortality rates wavered between a high of 7.4 deaths per 1,000 births in 1995 to a low of 7.0 in 2000. In 2001 infant mortality increased again to 7.3 per 1,000 live births. Approximately 65 percent of infant deaths occur within the neonatal period and nearly 40 percent occur within the first 24 hours of life.

Florida's Department of Health Bureau of Epidemiology has used the World Health Organization and CDC's Perinatal Periods of Risk (PPOR) methodology to analyze fetal and infant death statewide statistics. This methodology described pictorially in the chart below, provides insight into which areas of maternal and infant health are experiencing excess rates of mortality. ⁽¹⁾   The PPOR combines information on birth weight, fetal death and infant death to indicate areas of risk for further community assessment. For example, the PPOR recommends that a birth weight below 1500 grams for fetal, neonatal or post neonatal deaths would indicate interventions that affect maternal health and prematurity. High neonatal death rates of infants with birth weights above 1,500 grams may indicate the need for improvements in newborn care.