The effect of availability and utilization of prenatal care and hospital services on infant mortality rates. Summary of the findings of the Louisiana Infant Mortality Study. Part II

Abstract

A total of 69,556 birth and 1,541 death certificates from Louisiana, 1972, were reviewed. Infant, neonatal, and postneonatal mortality rates were computed for number of prenatal visits, type of hospital of delivery, hospital vs. nonhospital delivery, and geographical access to health care. The mortality rates were twice as great for infants born outside of hospitals. With no prenatal care, the infant mortality rates were between four- and tenfold greater than the rates of women receiving more than nine visits even when race, poverty, geography, and birth weight were considered. Infant mortality rates were twice as high in the neonatal period and three times greater in the postneonatal period among the poor who utilized charity hospitals. This study illustrates a method which could be incorporated into state vital statistics reports which would detect populations at risk of excess infant deaths and would provide a more refined analysis of birth and infant death data to monitor improvements in care of high-risk groups.