Changes in U.S. Rural Perinatal and Infant Health Care During the Last Decade

Little is known about long-term national trends in birth outcomes and use of prenatal care in the rural population of the United States, or about intra-rural differences in adverse outcomes and inadequate prenatal care. This project examined changes in rates of adverse birth outcomes and prenatal care among U.S. rural residents between 1985-1987 and 1995-1997. The study involved analyses of data from the Linked Birth Death Data Set, a national compilation of birth certificate data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The study is assessing inter-decade changes in rural/urban areas and intra-rural differences in the rate of low birthweight, neonatal death, post neonatal mortality, and inadequate prenatal care.

Publications

• Poor Birth Outcome in the Rural United States: 1985-1987 to 1995-1997 (Final Report)
  WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Date: 02/2008
  Rates of low birthweight, poor outcomes, and inadequate prenatal care among urban and rural areas were evaluated and compared from 1985-1997 using data from the Linked Birth-Death Data Set.
• Poor Birth Outcome in the Rural United States: 1985-1987 to 1995-1997 (Project Summary)
  WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Date: 02/2008
  Rates of low birthweight, poor outcomes, and inadequate prenatal care among urban and rural areas were evaluated and compared from 1985-1997 using data from the Linked Birth-Death Data Set.