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Chartbook on Healthy Living

Maternal and Child Health Care: Patient Safety—Birth Trauma

  • Cases included in birth trauma measure:
    • Hemorrhage below the scalp.
    • Cerebral hemorrhage at birth.
    • Spinal cord injury at birth.
    • Facial nerve injury at birth.
    • Bone injury not elsewhere classified at birth.
    • Nerve injury not elsewhere classified at birth.
    • Birth trauma not elsewhere classified.24
  • Many of these injuries to neonates may be preventable.25

Birth Trauma

Birth trauma—injury to neonate per 1,000 live births, 2004-2012

Chart shows birth trauma-neonatal injury rates per 1,000 live births. For details, go to table below.

Year Total White Black API Hispanic
2004 2.64 2.79 2.92 2.59 2.05
2005 2.36 2.57 2.20 2.79 1.85
2006 2.23 2.47 2.01 2.01 1.85
2007 2.33 2.65 1.86 2.71 1.84
2008 2.30 2.55 1.97 2.41 1.94
2009 2.16 2.45 1.82 2.24 1.70
2010 2.12 2.25 2.09 2.34 1.82
2011 2.00 2.12 1.80 1.89 1.87
2012 1.91 2.09 1.74 1.76 1.56

Key: API = Asian or Pacific Islander.
Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, State Inpatient Databases, disparities analysis file and AHRQ Quality Indicators, modified version of 4.1.

Note: White, Black, and API are non-Hispanic. Hispanic includes all races.

  • Trends:
    • Birth trauma-neonatal injury rates fell from 2.6 per 1,000 live births in 2004 to 1.9 per 1,000 live births in 2012.
    • Between 2004 and 2012, birth trauma-neonatal injury rates fell for all racial/ethnic groups, but the decrease for Asians and Pacific Islanders did not achieve statistical significance.
  • Groups With Disparities:
    • In 2012, White neonates experienced an injury rate of 2.09 per 1,000 live births compared with 1.56 per 1,000 live births for Hispanic neonates. There were no other statistically significant differences between groups.

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Page last reviewed June 2015
Page originally created September 2015

The information on this page is archived and provided for reference purposes only.

 

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