Monthly Spotlight: Pregnancy & Infant Loss

• Miscarriage is the loss of pregnancy in the womb before 20 weeks of pregnancy (in some parts it is before 28 weeks)
  • Some women have a miscarriage before they even know they are pregnant
  • After 20 weeks it is considered a stillbirth
• We don't know all the causes of miscarriages
  • But chromosome problems are often to blame
• It can take one's body a few weeks to a month to recover from a miscarriage
  • It may take longer to recover emotionally
• 10 to 20 in 100 pregnancies result in a miscarriage
  • 8 of 10 happen in the first trimester
  • 1 in 5 in the second trimester 
• About 1 in 100 people have repeat miscarriages 
  • The risk of a second miscarriage is 20%
• Up to 7 in 10 (70 percent) of all miscarriages are caused when an embryo (fertilized egg) gets the wrong number of chromosomes.
• Every year, nearly 2 million babies are stillborn
  • Many of which could've been prevented
• The rate of death at birth/infant increased 3% from 2021 to 2022
  • 5.60 infant deaths to 1,000 live births
  • Mortality rates increased in male births from 5.83 to 6.06 out of 1,000 births
• From 2021 to 2022 the mortality rate significantly decreased in one state (Nevada)
  • It increased in 4 states (Georgia, Iowa, Missouri, and Texas)
• In 2022, the number of infant deaths was about 20,553
  • Per every 100,000 live births: 560.4
• Leading causes of death: 
  • Congenital malformations, deformations, and chromosomal abnormalities
  • Disorders related to short gestation and low birthweight: not elsewhere classified
  • Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
• Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID) is a term used to describe the sudden and unexpected death of a baby less than 1 year old in which the cause was not obvious before investigation.
  • These deaths often happen during sleep or in the baby’s sleep area.
• There are about 3,400 SUID in the US each year
• The three most common types of SUID are:
  • Sudden Infant Death Syndrom (SIDS)
  • Unknown cause
  • Accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed
• In 2020, there were about 1,389 deaths due to SIDS, about 1,062 deaths due to unknown causes, and about 905 deaths due to accidental suffocation
• The three states with the highest rates of SUID from 2016-2020 are Arkansas, Alabama, and Mississippi

 Information provided by the National Center for Health Statistics, the CDC, NVSS Vital Statistics Rapid Release, and the March of Dimes