Indiana Gets ‘C’ on March of Dimes Premature Birth Report Card

Indiana earned a “C” on the 2015 March of Dimes Premature Birth Report Card, which for the first time graded the state’s cities and revealed persistent disparities between communities and among racial and ethnic groups.

Indiana’s preterm birth rate was 9.7 percent in 2014, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. The rate was worse than the new March of Dimes 2020 goal of 8.1 percent. But there are communities within Indiana that are trailing behind the state’s rate. Indianapolis, Gary, Evansville, and Fort Wayne all had preterm birth rates that were worse than the statewide rate. South Bend had a preterm birth rate that was only slightly better than the statewide rate at 9.2 percent.

Indiana ranked 41 on the disparity index with a score of 33 to indicate the gaps between racial and ethnic groups in its preterm birth rate.

The Indiana Chapter of the March of Dimes awarded seven chapter grants across the state in 2015 to implement programs aimed at reducing the state’s preterm birth rate, including CenteringPregnancy® and Baby and Me-Tobacco Free®.
On November 6, at the J.W. Marriott hotel in downtown Indianapolis, leading obstetricians, neonatologists, public health officials, and maternal and child health professionals are being updated on the latest developments in preventing premature birth and infant mortality. Contact the Indiana Chapter at 317-262-4668 for information about the Summit.
During the month of November, you can see several businesses and landmarks across Indianapolis shining in purple light to bring awareness of prematurity and symbolize hope for a healthy start for more babies. These include the Kiwanis International Headquarters, WLFI, Indianapolis Power and Light, Emmis Communications, Duke Realty, Indianapolis Arts Garden, Butler University, St. Vincent Hospital, St. Vincent Carmel Women’s Center, among others.

The US earned a “C” on the 2015 Report Card. Idaho, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington earned “As,” 19 states received a “B,” 18 states and the District of Columbia got a “C,” six others a “D,” and Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Puerto Rico received an “F.” The U.S. preterm birth rate ranks among the worst of high-resource countries, the March of Dimes says. Worldwide, 15 million babies are born preterm, and nearly one million die due to an early birth or its complications. Babies who survive an early birth face serious and lifelong health problems, including breathing problems, jaundice, vision loss, cerebral palsy and intellectual delays.

The March of Dimes says the years of improvement in the US preterm birth rate came through bold leadership and the implementation of programs and policies by state and local health departments, hospitals and health care providers. Also, a more accurate method of measuring pregnancy length recently was adopted by the National Center for Health Statistics. The new measurement already is used by most other high-resource countries.

The March of Dimes says it recognizes that continued research to identify new medical advances to prevent preterm birth is necessary in order to reach the new goal. The March of Dimes has invested in a nationwide network of five new prematurity research centers to find the unknown causes of this still too-common problem and potential solutions.

The 2015 Premature Birth Report Card provides rates and grades for major cities or counties in each state, and Puerto Rico. It also provides preterm birth rates by race and ethnicity for each state and applies a disparity index that ranks states.

Maine ranked first on the index with the smallest gaps between racial and ethnic groups in its preterm birth rate, while the District of Columbia had the largest gaps. Among the nation’s top 100 cities with the most births, Portland, Oregon has the lowest preterm birth rate at 7.2 percent.

The March of Dimes Board of Trustees set a new goal to lower the national preterm birth rate to 8.1 percent by 2020 and to 5.5 percent by 2030. Reaching the March of Dimes 2020 goal of 8.1 will mean that 210,000 fewer babies will be born preterm and achieving the 2030 goal will mean 1.3 million fewer babies will be born preterm saving nearly $70 billion, the March of Dimes estimates.

The March of Dimes Prematurity Campaign is guided by a Steering Committee of six leadership organizations. In addition to the March of Dimes, members include: the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP); the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG); the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP); the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO); the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric & Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN); and the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO).

The March of Dimes works to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. The March of Dimes is the leading nonprofit organization for pregnancy and baby health.  For the latest resources and information, visit marchofdimes.org or nacersano.org. Find us on Facebook and Twitter.