Infant mortality is calculated as the number of infant deaths occurring to to infants in a given age group in a given year
per 1,000 resident live births in the same year.
Numerator
Number of deaths of to infants in a given age group in a given year.
Denominator
Total number of resident live births in the same year. For perinatal mortality, the denominator is the total number of resident
live births plus fetal deaths of at least 28 weeks gestation.
Data Interpretation Issues
The Infant Mortality Rate is most often calculated as infant deaths in a given year per 1,000 live births in the same year
(death period method). The rate may also be calculated as death of infants born in a given year per 1,000 infants born in
that year (birth cohort method).
Why Is This Important?
Overall, congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities are the leading cause of infant death (20.1%
of deaths). Disorders related to short gestation and low birth weight are second, making up 16.6% of deaths. However, it is
important to keep in mind that cause of death varies over the first year of life, and combining all causes during the first
year of life obscures the importance of sudden infant death syndrome as the leading cause of death in the postneonatal period.
Other Objectives
CDC Environmental Public Health Tracking, Nationally Consistent Data and Measures (EPHT NCDM)
Environmental Health Epidemiology Bureau, Environmental Public Health Tracking Program, New Mexico Department of Health, 1190 St Francis Drive, Suite 1320, Santa Fe, NM 87505, Heidi Krapfl, Chief, (505) 476-3577,
heidi.krapfl@state.nm.us, or Brian Woods, Environmental Epidemiologist, (505) 827-2868, brian.woods@state.nm.us
The information provided above is from the New Mexico Department of
Health's NM-IBIS web site
(http://ibis.health.state.nm.us). The information published on this
website may be reproduced without permission. Please use the following
citation: "Retrieved Thu, 23 May 2013 4:06:06
from New Mexico Department of Health, Indicator-Based
Information System for Public Health Web site: http://ibis.health.state.nm.us".
