Infant mortality in American Indians and Alaska Natives 1995-1999 and 2000-2004.

OBJECTIVES (1) To determine the infant mortality rate (IMR) in American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/AN) and whites between 1995-1999 and 2000-2004. (2) To compare the leading causes of infant mortality in AI/AN and whites. (3) To examine differences in neonatal vs. postneonatal causes of death in whites and AI/AN. METHODS Using the 1995-99 and 2000-04 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics national linked birth/infant death data, we examined neonatal and post-neonatal IMR among AI/AN and whites. RESULTS AI/AN experienced significantly greater overall IMR in 1995-1999 and 2000-2004 than whites. While the reduction in the IMR between these time periods was statistically significant for whites, the reduction among AI/AN was not. We found that AI/AN had an IMR 1.5 times as high as that of whites. CONCLUSIONS While the overall IMR has decreased in AI/AN, disparities in postneonatal IMR persist between AI/AN and Whites.