Infant mortality from congenital malformations in the United States, 1970-1997

OBJECTIVE: We examined a trend in infant mortality caused by congenital mal formations in the United States, particularly for the racial disparity betw een whites and nonwhites. METHODS: We used US annual summary data on cause-specific infant mortality for 1970-97 and detailed birth and infant death linked data for 1985-87, 19 89-91, and 1995-97. RESULTS. Congenital malformations became a more prominent cause of infant m ortality in 1997 and accounted for 22.1% of all infant deaths compared with 15.1% in 1970. Congenital malformations of nervous, cardiovascular, and re spiratory systems accounted for more than 60% of all malformation deaths. M alformations incompatible with life (anencephaly, encephalocele, hypoplasti c lungs, renal agenesis, and trisomies 13 and 18) were the cause of one-thi rd of all malformation deaths. In 1970-71, infant mortality caused by conge nital malformations in nonwhites was lower, 2.6 (confidence interval [CI] 2 .5, 2.7) per 1000, compared with whites, 3.1 (CI 3.0,3.1) per 1000. However , in 1996-97, the rate of congenital malformation-specific infant mortality was higher in nonwhites, 1.7 (CI 1.7, 1.8) per 1000, compared with whites, 1.6 (CI 1.5,1.6) per 1000. This trend was most pronounced with central ner vous system malformations. Although whites had an almost two-fold higher in fant mortality rate from central nervous system malformations compared with nonwhites in 1970-71, this disparity was no longer present by 1996-97. CONCLUSION: Congenital malformations have become a leading cause of infant mortality in the 1990s. Over the last several decades, this mortality decli ned more slowly in nonwhites than in whites. (C) 2001 by the American Colle ge of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.