Kansas IMR has decreased dramatically from 2,795 infant deaths in 1912 to 253 infant deaths in 2010

TOPEKA – The Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s (KDHE) Bureau of Epidemiology and Public Health Informatics (BEPHI) has issued the 2010 Selected Statistics, Stillbirths and Infant Deaths Report summarizing vital records data on stillbirths and infant deaths. The purpose of this report is to move beyond single-year statistics reported in the Annual Summary of Vital Statistics and provide a more long term view of stillbirth and infant mortality data and statistics. In an attempt to increase data stability, the intervals include 5 years, 20 years or approximately 100 years.

Findings in the 2010 report include the following:

In the last century, the Kansas infant mortality rate (IMR) has decreased dramatically (91.4%) from 2,795 infant deaths in 1912 to 253 infant deaths in 2010.

Even when considering the last 20 years (1991-2010), the overall trend in infant mortality rates/1,000 live births has decreased significantly from 9.0 in 1991 to 6.3 in 2010.

Analysis of the underlying cause of death by (2006-2010) shows that prematurity or low birth weight is the leading cause of death among Black non-Hispanic infants and congenital anomalies is the leading cause of death among White non-Hispanic and Hispanic infants.

Analysis of the linked birth/death file (2006-2010) shows that prematurity (less than 37 weeks gestation) was a primary risk factor in 62 percent of all infant deaths even when the underlying cause of death was not prematurity or low birth weight.

Prematurity is an important risk factor for the Black non-Hispanic population (72.0% of infant deaths), Hispanic population (65.6%), and the White non-Hispanic population (59.1%).

The counties with the highest number of infant deaths (2006-2010) included Sedgwick County (317 or 21.5%), Johnson County (227 or 15.4%), Wyandotte County (121 or 8.2%) and Shawnee County (106 or 7.2%). These four counties accounted for 52.4 percent of the infant deaths.

Several zip codes had enough deaths to allow analysis for 2006-2010. The zip-codes with the highest infant mortality rates/1,000 live births included 66720 (Neosho County, 16.2), 66605 (Shawnee County, 13.8), 67218 (Sedgwick County, 13.5), 67156 (Cowley County, 13.1), and 67037 (Sedgwick County, 11.1).

The zip-codes with the lowest infant mortality rates per 1,000 live births were 67212 (Sedgwick County, 3.6), 66062 (Johnson County, 5.2), 66061 (Johnson County, 5.3), 67846 (Finney County, 5.6), and 66030 (Johnson County, 5.9).

KDHE’s Division of Public Health monitors infant mortality and supports programs that promote access to health services for mothers and infants. BEPHI calculates the official state infant mortality rate as part of its ongoing mission to provide data and information to program managers, policy maker, health providers and the public.

The new report that summarizes vital records data on still births and infant deaths can be found at https://www.kdheks.gov/phi/index.htm. Persons inquiring about additional data please call Greg Crawford at 785-296-1531 or email at gcrawfrod@kdehks.gov.