Overview:
• Hamilton County achieved a Black infant mortality rate in single digits for the first time, at 9.0 deaths per 1,000 live births.
• Strategies to address racial disparities include amplifying the voices of Black women and collaborating with maternal health providers.
• While progress has been made, Black families were nearly 2.5 times more likely to experience infant loss than White families in 2023.
• Initiatives to reduce sleep-related infant deaths and extreme preterm births are ongoing, with a focus on innovative solutions to address stubborn problems.
By Jessica Seeberger
Cradle Cincinnati
For the first time on record, Hamilton County achieved a Black infant mortality rate in the single digits, with 9.0 deaths per 1,000 live births. Additionally, Hamilton County has experienced a much faster decline in Black infant mortality than the national rate. Even with this positive progress, Black families were nearly 2.5 times more likely to experience infant loss than White families in 2023.
“We know that racism is a driving factor in our local infant mortality,” said Dominique Walker, Cradle Cincinnati Epidemiologist. “That’s why our coalition of partners has focused their efforts on amplifying the voices of Black women in clinical and community settings and collaborating with regional maternal health providers to make addressing racial disparities the focal point of our work.”
Rates for other races and ethnicities can be found in the full report.
The CDC has released a provisional 2023 U.S. infant mortality rate of 5.47 — so Hamilton County’s infant mortality rate is now on par with the national average. That said, this is still an enormous win for our community.
Extreme preterm birth, defined as a baby born before 28 weeks gestation, is the leading cause of infant death. Deaths due to extreme preterm birth decreased to 22 in 2023.
Preterm birth-related deaths used to account for the majority of infant deaths in Hamilton County (57%, 2014-2018). However, this is no longer the case. These deaths now account for less than half all infant deaths (46%, 2019-2023).
“The decrease in infant deaths related to preterm birth is encouraging,” said Dr. James Greenberg, Cradle Cincinnati Co-founder and Infant Health Lead. “While rates are still too high, the steady progress in Hamilton County reflects collaboration between public health agencies, medical providers and community stakeholders. We are committed to building on our collective success.”
Deaths due to birth defects in Hamilton County remain consistent with national averages and show no racial disparities. Congenital heart defects are the leading cause of birth defect-related deaths in our region.
For the third year in a row, sleep-related infant deaths decreased in Hamilton County, with 15 babies dying before their first birthdays. However, our rate of sleep-related deaths is still higher than the national average. Co-bedding, or when a baby sleeps with another person, continues to be the leading cause of sleep-related infant death.
Black families are five times more likely to experience a sleep-related loss than White families. To address this disparity, Cradle Cincinnati held focus groups with Black mothers to better understand the challenges they faced in consistently practicing safe sleep. Lack of support, exhaustion, financial struggles, postpartum depression, and stress were frequently cited barriers.
“Providing families with safe sleep information and cribs is a cornerstone of our safe sleep work in Hamilton County,” said Dr. Elizabeth Kelly, Cradle Cincinnati Co-founder and Maternal Health Lead. “That being said, it’s clear that other factors also play a role in influencing safe sleep. It’s time for our community to come together and apply innovative solutions to this stubborn problem.”
Cradle Cincinnati is developing a five-year plan to address sleep-related infant deaths in Hamilton County. The plan will be released later this fall during Safe Sleep for Babies Month (October).
2023 Hamilton County maternal and infant health data is available to view at www.cradlecincinnati.org/data.
“When Cradle Cincinnati formed in 2013, Hamilton County families were 70% more likely to experience infant loss than families across the nation,” said Dr. Meredith Smith, Cradle Cincinnati Executive Director. “To now be lower than the national average speaks to the power of our community coming together and applying persistent and innovative approaches to solving infant mortality. We are thrilled with this progress, but our work is not done until every baby born in Hamilton County lives to see their first birthday.”
Cradle Cincinnati, launched in June of 2013, is a partnership between activated families in our community, Hamilton County, the City of Cincinnati, UC Health, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, The Christ Hospital, TriHealth, Mercy Health, Hamilton County Public Health, the Cincinnati Health Department, the United Way, Interact for Health, the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, bi3 Fund, Every Child Succeeds, Health Care Access Now, Healthy Moms and Babes, the Greater Cincinnati Health Collaborative, the State of Ohio, Ohio Medicaid, the Ohio Department of Health, the Health Resources & Services Administration, the March of Dimes and many others.