Mexican American infant mortality rate: Implications for public policy

Infants of Mexican American descent have lower infant mortality rates (IMRs ) than do non-Hispanic blacks and non-Hispanic whites. Because IMR is used in allocation methods for primary health care resources, the result could b e discrimination against Mexican American populations in the distribution o f resources. This study examined the National Center for Health Statistics' infant birth and death records, as well as unpublished data from the Burea u of Primary Health Care. This study found that the low Mexican American IM Rs ave real and not simply a data anomaly and that inclusion of birth outco mes has a small and mixed effect on the designation of high-Hispanic areas as being medically underserved or shout of primary health care professional s. The authors suggest inclusion of an additional high-Hispanic health indi cator in the designation criteria for health resources.