1.1b Fertility, Birth Rate, Infant Mortality, Maternal Mortality

Question 1

Infant Mortality in the US

Answer 1

• Indicator of adequate prenatal care and health of nation
  Contributions to Infant Mortality include
• Limited maternal education, young maternal age, unmarried status, poverty, lack of prenatal care, smoking.
• Poor nutrition, alcohol, hypertension.

Question 2

Neonatal Mortality in the US

Answer 2

CONGENITAL MALFORMATION IS LEADING CAUSE

• Low birth weight
• Sudden infant death syndrome
• Maternal complications
• Unintentional injuries
• Cord/placenta complications
• Newborn bacterial sepsis
• Newborn respiratory distress
• Circulatory problems
• Hemorrhage

Question 3

International Infant Mortality Trends

Answer 3

• Decreases in infant mortality rate in US does not keep up with other developed countries
• Reasons include health disparities
• This also may explain high rates of Low Birth Weight (LBW) in the US compared to other countries.

Question 4

Maternal Mortality

Answer 4

• High percentage of deaths are preventable through improved access to prenatal care.
• Major causes of maternal death include CVD, Non-CVD, Infection/Sepsis.
• Most are risk are under age 20 and over age 35
• Low education, unmarried status, and non-caucasian’s

Question 5

Strategies to Reduce Maternal Mortality

Answer 5

• Improve access to skilled attendants at birth
• Providing post-abortion care
• Improve family planning services
• Provide adolescents with better reproductive health services

Question 6

Clinical Contributors to Maternal Morbidity

Answer 6

• Acute Renal Failure
• Amniotic Fluid Embolism
• Cerebrovascular Accident
• Eclampsia (Seizures during pregnancy from hypertension)
• Pulmonary Embolism
• Liver Failure
• Obstetric Shock (hemorrhage)
• Respiratory failure
• Septicemia (Bacterial Blood Poisoning)
• Complications of anesthesia (pulmonary, cardiac, CNS)

Question 7

Maternal Medical Risk Factors

Answer 7

• Most frequent 2 are hypertension and diabetes, which are associated with obesity.

Question 8

Common newborn problems with maternal obesity

Answer 8

• Decreased fertility
• Congenital anomalies
• Miscarriage
• Fetal death