The United States has high rates of pre-term births, according to a recent report.
Kaitlyn Radde/NPRAfter a difficult journey with insturment, the Catos were overjoyed when they found out they were pregnant, but they didn't share the good news until after having at least one more test or two.
She noticed a lack of movement during the 23rd week of her pregnancies. Cato's doctor told them to go to the hospital that night after they found out about the issues with the blood flow.
Doctors weren't sure about the chances of survival when he was 25 weeks old.
Katie CatoThey had to drive an hour from their home in Lavonia, Ga., to the hospital in South Carolina. The average time for a baby to be considered "preterm" is 37 weeks.
There was a boy who needed to be resuscitated. The nurse couldn't see the baby because he was so small. She remembers that she and her husband were warned as she was still recovering from her own procedure.
The neonatologist asked if you had taken a picture with him. The 38 year old says to NPR. I was not sure. She wasn't expecting him to make it through the night so she told him to take a picture.
After spending four months in theNICU, he was released on oxygen in early 2020. He's had vision surgery, seen a pulmonologist for chronic lung damage, and worked hard with physical and occupational therapists to catch up with his peers.
The two-and-a-half year old has undergone various treatments. His mother says that his medical providers have noted how mellow he is.
Katie CatoShe says that the two-and-a-half year old is happy and loving. The family has created a birthday tradition of donating 103 items, from swaddles to snacks, to the hospital and two organizations who helped them through the 103 days in the NICU
Every year, hundreds of thousands of babies are born premature in the U.S. Babies who are premature are more likely to die and have long-term effects on a child's health.
According to a report, they are on the rise.
The report card gives grades to the entire country, as well as individual states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, on measures related to the health of mothers and babies.
The report found that the U.S. preterm birth rate reached 10.5% of live births in 2021, a 4% increase from the previous year's rate. In addition to Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, the number of preterm births increased in 45 states. The data comes from the National Center for Health Statistics.
The report only gives one state a score in the A range and that is Vermont. A number of states earned B's. Puerto Rico and several states in the Southeast received failing marks.
The US dropped from a C- to a D+ according to the March of Dimes' rating system.
Dr. Zsakeba Henderson, senior vice president and interim chief medical and health officer of the March of Dimes, said that the main findings of the report were the increase in premature births and the widening racial disparity in maternal and infant health.
Infant mortality is dropping, and states are taking action to improve health outcomes. In an interview with NPR, Henderson stresses that this is not a partisan issue and that policymakers can help.
Everyone was born in this world. Everyone has a mother. She believes that this is a universal issue that crosses the aisle. One of the least safe places to give birth in the world is our country. Some of the problems that we're seeing can be solved by policy solutions that congress can pass.
Many parts of the country are seeing racial disparity. Black and Native American mothers are more likely to give birth early.
March of DimesBlack mothers and American Indian and Alaska Native-born mothers have the worst grades when it comes to their babies being premature. The impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic was believed to have increased racial disparity in maternal and infant health measures.
Babies born to Black and Native American mothers are more likely to be born premature. Babies born to Asian/ Pacific Islander mothers have the lowest rate of preterm birth, but saw the largest increase of all ethnic groups since the last report.
The report shows that the U.S. disparity ratio has gotten worse. New York, Wisconsin and Mississippi are the states with the highest levels of disparity.
In order to fully make a difference in the outcomes in our country, we have to narrow the disparity gaps.
The age of the mother, whether she has certain medical conditions, is pregnant with multiples or has had a previous preterm birth are some of the factors that could contribute to a baby being born too early. She says that it is possible to save the life of the mom or baby by delivering early.
She says that clinical and research efforts are underway to try to prevent medical causes, but there are other social factors that need to be addressed.
Many parts of the country lack access to quality prenatal care, which is one of the reasons a report was released last month by the March of Dimes. It is possible for mothers to be healthy before and during their pregnancies if they have access to adequate housing, food and transportation.
She feels fortunate that she was able to drive an hour to the hospital. She thinks that if he had been born at her local hospital, he wouldn't have survived.
She says that there was a greater power to place them. We have to travel for advanced care in more rural areas.
The infant mortality rate went down from the last report.
March of DimesHenderson says that they are getting better at taking care of sick babies.
There were slightly fewer infant deaths between the years of 2020 and 2019.
Thirty states have improved infant mortality rates.
13 remained the same and eight got worse. Most of the states with the highest infant mortality rates are in the Southeast.
Black and American Indian populations had higher mortality rates.
It is encouraging to see that more states are taking steps to improve maternal and infant health. More states have recently extended Medicaid coverage for mothers after birth, bringing the total number of states that do so to more than two dozen.
Many of the poor outcomes that happen to mothers, including maternal deaths, happen up to a year after the baby is born.
There has been an increase in the number of states setting up networks of teams that work to improve health care and outcomes for mothers and babies.
A maternal mortality review committee is a multi-disciplinary group within a state that reviews the circumstances surrounding all of its maternal deaths in order to try to prevent more. According to the report, D.C. is one of 38 states that have MMRCs.
Henderson says that they know that the mechanisms will have a huge impact on the outcomes.
A number of policy solutions are advocated in the report, from states extending Medicaid coverage to increasing access to services.
Rogelio V. Solis/APAccess to care and health outcomes can be improved by a range of policy changes advocated by the March of Dimes.
Increasing access to Medicaid, which covers 40% of births in the U.S., is one way to do that. It is possible to reimburse midwifery care in 37 states, and only eight states do.
Launching committees to gain a better understanding of maternal death is one of the preventative measures.
Those are solutions for policymakers There are pregnant people in this moment.
Henderson says that she would give the message to the mothers that they are working to make things better. They should feel confident to ask questions, to make sure they are surrounded by support, and to make sure that they hold their care providers accountable.
Asking all the questions they need to understand what will happen during and after the birth of a baby, as well as warning signs and when to seek help, is part of the process.
March of Dimes gave her the ability to ask questions and work with the medical team when she first learned about it.
She doesn't want other people to feel a sense of shame that she did.
She says that she felt judged because of what she had done to cause harm to the baby. I wish I had known not to do that and that theNICU staff were not judging us for being there.
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