Latest news with #infantmortality
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Tropical cyclones may be linked to infant mortality in at-risk low- and middle-income countries, new research suggests
Exposure to tropical cyclones could have an impact on young babies' ability to survive in poorer countries, scientists have found. A mother living through a tropical cyclone while pregnant, or a infant living through a tropical cyclone during the first year of life, may be associated with higher infant mortality when combining data from seven low- and middle-income countries, according to a paper published on Wednesday in Science Advances. MORE: Black infant mortality rate more than double the rate among white infants: CDC Exposure to cyclones was linked to 4.4 additional infant deaths per 1,000 live births in the aggregate study, which included: Madagascar, India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, the Philippines, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. These countries were studied because they, historically, have a higher risk of tropical cyclones. Researchers compared tropical wind field data with more than 1.6 million infant survival records. They identified 148,384 babies who were exposed to tropical cyclones in utero or during the first year of life. Most of these babies (109,051) were exposed to tropical storms, which are the weakest type of tropical cyclone. Bangladesh, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti seemed to generate a higher amount of infantile deaths linked to tropical cyclones -- the 11% increase in infant mortality was mostly driven data from those countries, Zachary Wagner, an associate professor at the University of Southern California's Center for Economic and Social Research and co-author of the paper, told ABC News. Researchers did not identify a significant impact of tropical cyclones on infant mortality in India, which had the largest number of people exposed to tropical cyclones. They believe that this result may be due to India having better systems in place to handle storms. The mortality effect on babies seemed to carry over from tropical storm to Category 1 and 2 storms, the researchers said. However, this association was not as pronounced. In the study, they also noted that Category 3 or stronger storms are much rare relative to lower-intensity storms. However, climate scientists predict that storms will become more extreme in the future due to global warming, which could impact vulnerable populations even more, according to the researchers. "So there's no reason to expect this to get a lot better over time, but there is reason to expect this to get worse over time," Wagner said. MORE: Climate change making Atlantic hurricanes twice as likely to strengthen from weak to major intensity in 24 hours Wagner was inspired to study the impact of tropical cyclones on infant mortality following his work on how armed conflict impacts pediatric health in war-torn countries for over a decade, he said. He noted that the paper was partially funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, a part of the National Institute of Health, so the researchers could look into the issue on a large scale. "We started looking at flooding and tropical cyclones, and we're starting to look at heat and all these big weather events that can have these catastrophic effects in a lot of different areas around the globe," Wagner said. The effect of being exposed to tropical cyclones, on average, had a similar effect on infant mortality compared to armed conflict, according to Wagner. "The difference is that there's a lot more armed conflict than there are tropical cyclones, so the overall contribution to child mortality -- the effect is larger," he said. MORE: Extreme weather events prove climate change is already here The article suggested that less baseline vulnerability, better designed structures and better emergency response systems could all contribute to lessening infant mortality influenced by tropical cyclones. The study did not identify statistical differences, either in individual countries or overall, in hospital antenatal care visits or the number of children being born in health care facilities as a result of tropical cyclones. "We don't know which of those is actually explaining the difference, though," Wagner said. "Further research on understanding the mechanisms that are driving these deaths so that we can intervene in an effective way is necessary," Wagner said. In the future, the researchers will also be looking into how other vulnerable populations in the U.S., such as the elderly, can be affected by tropical cyclones -- such as disruptions in medication use or access to healthcare facilities for preventative care, he added. Tropical cyclones may be linked to infant mortality in at-risk low- and middle-income countries, new research suggests originally appeared on
The Independent
08-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
US infant mortality dropped in 2024. Experts partly credit RSV shots
The nation's infant mortality rate dropped last year after two years of hovering at a late-pandemic plateau. Some experts think one reason for the drop could be a vaccination campaign against RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, which is a common cause of cold-like symptoms that can be dangerous for infants. The infant mortality national rate dropped to about 5.5 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2024, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted Thursday. That's down from about 5.6 per 1,000 live births, where it had been the previous two years. CDC officials believe the findings will not change much when the final numbers come out later this year. Infant mortality is the measure of how many babies die before they reach their first birthday. Because the number of babies born in the U.S. varies from year to year, researchers instead calculate rates to better compare infant mortality over time. U.S. infant deaths fell to about 19,900 last year, according to CDC data, compared with about 20,150 in 2023. The U.S. infant mortality rate has been worse than other high-income countries, which experts have attributed to poverty, inadequate prenatal care and other things. Even so, the U.S. rate generally has improved over the decades because of medical advances and public health efforts. The 2022 and 2023 levels were up from 5.44 per 1,000 in 2021 — the first statistically significant jump in the rate in about two decades. Experts attributed those years to a rebound in RSV and flu infections after two years of pandemic precautions. In 2023, U.S. health officials began recommending two new measures to prevent the toll on infants — one was a lab-made antibody shot for infants that helps the immune system fight off the virus, and the other was giving an RSV vaccine to women between 32 weeks and 36 weeks of pregnancy. That effort is probably one explanation for the improvement, said Dr. Amanda Williams, interim chief medical officer for the March of Dimes. In a separate CDC report released Thursday, researchers noted infant hospitalizations in the 2024-25 respiratory virus season were more than 40% lower than past averages. But more work needs to be done to tease out other reasons, Williams added, noting that much of the improvement in 2024 was in infants who were at least one month old when they died. That could be explained not only by fewer deaths from RSV but also from other causes, like accidents, homicides or SIDS. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
US infant mortality dropped in 2024. Experts partly credit RSV shots
NEW YORK (AP) — The nation's infant mortality rate dropped last year after two years of hovering at a late-pandemic plateau. Some experts think one reason for the drop could be a vaccination campaign against RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, which is a common cause of cold-like symptoms that can be dangerous for infants. The infant mortality national rate dropped to about 5.5 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2024, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted Thursday. That's down from about 5.6 per 1,000 live births, where it had been the previous two years. CDC officials believe the findings will not change much when the final numbers come out later this year. Infant mortality is the measure of how many babies die before they reach their first birthday. Because the number of babies born in the U.S. varies from year to year, researchers instead calculate rates to better compare infant mortality over time. U.S. infant deaths fell to about 19,900 last year, according to CDC data, compared with about 20,150 in 2023. The U.S. infant mortality rate has been worse than other high-income countries, which experts have attributed to poverty, inadequate prenatal care and other things. Even so, the U.S. rate generally has improved over the decades because of medical advances and public health efforts. The 2022 and 2023 levels were up from 5.44 per 1,000 in 2021 — the first statistically significant jump in the rate in about two decades. Experts attributed those years to a rebound in RSV and flu infections after two years of pandemic precautions. In 2023, U.S. health officials began recommending two new measures to prevent the toll on infants — one was a lab-made antibody shot for infants that helps the immune system fight off the virus, and the other was giving an RSV vaccine to women between 32 weeks and 36 weeks of pregnancy. That effort is probably one explanation for the improvement, said Dr. Amanda Williams, interim chief medical officer for the March of Dimes. In a separate CDC report released Thursday, researchers noted infant hospitalizations in the 2024-25 respiratory virus season were more than 40% lower than past averages. But more work needs to be done to tease out other reasons, Williams added, noting that much of the improvement in 2024 was in infants who were at least one month old when they died. That could be explained not only by fewer deaths from RSV but also from other causes, like accidents, homicides or SIDS. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Associated Press
08-05-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
US infant mortality dropped in 2024. Experts partly credit RSV shots
NEW YORK (AP) — The nation's infant mortality rate dropped last year after two years of hovering at a late-pandemic plateau. Some experts think one reason for the drop could be a vaccination campaign against RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, which is a common cause of cold-like symptoms that can be dangerous for infants. The infant mortality national rate dropped to about 5.5 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2024, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted Thursday. That's down from about 5.6 per 1,000 live births, where it had been the previous two years. CDC officials believe the findings will not change much when the final numbers come out later this year. Infant mortality is the measure of how many babies die before they reach their first birthday. Because the number of babies born in the U.S. varies from year to year, researchers instead calculate rates to better compare infant mortality over time. U.S. infant deaths fell to about 19,900 last year, according to CDC data, compared with about 20,150 in 2023. The U.S. infant mortality rate has been worse than other high-income countries, which experts have attributed to poverty, inadequate prenatal care and other things. Even so, the U.S. rate generally has improved over the decades because of medical advances and public health efforts. The 2022 and 2023 levels were up from 5.44 per 1,000 in 2021 — the first statistically significant jump in the rate in about two decades. Experts attributed those years to a rebound in RSV and flu infections after two years of pandemic precautions. In 2023, U.S. health officials began recommending two new measures to prevent the toll on infants — one was a lab-made antibody shot for infants that helps the immune system fight off the virus, and the other was giving an RSV vaccine to women between 32 weeks and 36 weeks of pregnancy. That effort is probably one explanation for the improvement, said Dr. Amanda Williams, interim chief medical officer for the March of Dimes. In a separate CDC report released Thursday, researchers noted infant hospitalizations in the 2024-25 respiratory virus season were more than 40% lower than past averages. But more work needs to be done to tease out other reasons, Williams added, noting that much of the improvement in 2024 was in infants who were at least one month old when they died. That could be explained not only by fewer deaths from RSV but also from other causes, like accidents, homicides or SIDS. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
