Sex-Specific Modeling of Infant Mortality in the United States: 1995-2013

Infant mortality in the United States is significantly higher compared to other developed countries. The purpose of this study is to examine infant mortality over a period of eighteen years and compare mortality trends between female and male infants while adjusting for ethnicity, birthweight, and gestational age. This study utilized NCHS’s Linked Birth/Infant Death Data, sampling biannually from 1995 through 2013 (n=40,388,319) and analyzed cumulative infant mortality, perinatal mortality, and neonatal mortality. The overall cumulative infant mortality across 1995-2013 decreased, and female infants demonstrated a lower cumulative infant mortality in comparison with male infants. Both female infant mortality and male infant mortality decreased, while the discrepancy between female and male births stayed the same over the eighteen-year period. Further research will focus on building more precise models that aid our understanding of ways to further decrease infant mortality in the U.S.