Three Leading Causes Of Infant Mortality In The United States

Children are the most vulnerable group in society. Social factors, health care, education, and specific populations can all lead to infant mortality. The three leading causes of infant mortality in the United States are birth defects, prematurity and low birth weight, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) (CDC, 2017).
Birth defects affect 1 in every 33 babies in the United States (CDC, 2016). They can occur at any time during a pregnancy. Some are known why they happen and others are not known why they occur. Smoking, medications, health conditions, and alcohol can all play a role in creating birth defects. Preventing some birth defects can be easy. Ensuring a mother is taking prenatal vitamins during pregnancy, not drinking or smoking during pregnancy, and talking with a doctor about any medications that a person may be taking can decrease the risk of birth defects. A public health measure that could decrease birth defects would be creating outreach programs for women to seek early prenatal care and ensuring that mothers can afford to go to the doctor and get the proper vitamins needed.
A baby is considered pre-term when it is born before the 37 weeks of pregnancy is completed (CDC, 2017). The CDC stated the when premature baby rates decreased the rate of teens and young mothers giving birth decreased as well. A women’s body is not ready to endure what a body has to go through to produce a baby if they are too young. Preventative public health measures include educating young women on the risk of getting pregnant too young, researching why premature births happen, and educating mothers on important prenatal