Findings seen both overall and among infants with congenital anomalies<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter<\/b>
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TUESDAY, Oct. 22, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Infant mortality was higher than expected, both overall and among those with congenital anomalies, for several months after the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization<\/em>, which overturned the constitutional right to abortion, according to a research letter published online Oct. 21 in JAMA Pediatrics<\/em>.<\/p>\n Parvati Singh, Ph.D., and Maria F. Gallo, Ph.D., both from The Ohio State University in Columbus, examined national monthly trends in infant mortality following the Dobbs<\/em> decision. The analysis included national monthly data on total live births and infant deaths from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wide-Ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (2018 to 2023).<\/p>\n The researchers found that time-series analyses suggest approximately 0.38 additional infant deaths per 1,000 live births overall and 0.13 deaths with congenital anomalies per 1,000 live births in relevant months after Dobbs<\/em>. These findings yielded an estimated 7 percent absolute increase in infant mortality overall (~247 excess deaths) and 10 percent in infant mortality with congenital anomalies (~204 excess deaths) in relevant months after Dobbs<\/em>. No months after June 2022 (post-Dobbs<\/em> months) showed lower-than-expected infant mortality.<\/p>\n “We await detailed infant mortality data, which will permit more rigorous analyses to evaluate differences in excess infant mortality by restrictiveness of state abortion laws,” the authors write.<\/p>\n Abstract\/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)<\/a><\/p>\n