Sacramento Head Start Alumni Association

Highlighting eight measures of healthy births

Feb 11, 2002

Kids Count and Child Trends jointly issued a report
highlighting eight measures of healthy births throughout the nation and
the 50 largest cities in the United States. This study looks at births from
1990-1999, revealing that the United States has made important strides in improving
the lives of newborns but there are still many aspects that need attention.

"The Right Start for America's Newborns: A Decade of City and State Trends",
is based on data from National Center for Health Statistics. It looks at eight
measures of a healthy start to life including:

*teen births
*repeat treen births
*births to unmarried women
*births to mothers with low educational attainment
*late or no prenatal care, smoking during pregnancy
*low-birth weight births
*preterm births

Five categories reflected improvements for the nation:

*Births to teens declined from 12.8 percent to 12.3 percent of all births.
*Repeat teen births declined from 24.3 percent to 21.2 percent of teen births.
*Births to mothers with low education declined from 23.8 percent to 21.7 percent.
*Births to mothers receiving late or no prenatal care declined from 6.1 percent to 3.8 percent.
*Births to mothers who smoked during pregnancy declined from 18.4 percent to 12.6 percent.

When looking at women who smoked during pregnancy, the 50 largest cities fared better than
the nation as a whole. The cities dropped from 17.7 percent in 1990 to 10.4 percent in 1999.
The national figure declined from 18.4 percent to 12.6 percent.

Child Trends and Kids Count hope that "states with poor birth outcomes can look at strong
performing states to learn what is behind their success." Child Trends and Kids Count are
part of a national and state-by-state effort to track the status of children in the United
States.

To read the report, go to: www.aecf.org/kidscount/rightstart202/

Source: Annie E. Casey Foundation www.aecf.org February 6, 2002