TUESDAY, May 30, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Teen births continue to decline in the United States, with a 9 percent drop from 2013 to 2014, according to a report published online May 30 in Pediatrics.
Researchers used 2013 to 2014 records that included birth certificates, death certificates, and reports of fetal death across the United States.
The researchers found that the number of births in the United States increased by 1 percent between 2013 and 2014. Births to 15- to 19-year-olds fell to a historic low of 24.2 births per 1,000 women in 2014. At the same time, the proportion of births to women 30 and older increased (up 3 percent from 2013 to 2014 for women 30 to 34 and 35 to 39). Mothers 30 and older accounted for 30 percent of births in 2014 -- up from 24 percent in 2000. Decreases in cesarean deliveries continued, and preterm births declined for the seventh year.
The infant mortality rate decreased slightly in 2014 to a historic low -- 5.82 infant deaths per 1,000 births, the investigators found. However, "the U.S. infant mortality rate is still higher than many other developed countries," lead author Sherry Murphy, a statistician at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics, told HealthDay. Death rates for children aged 1 to 19 did not change significantly between 2013 and 2014. Unintentional injuries and suicide were the top two causes of death in this age group.
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