A recent study published in the Journal of Perinatal Medicine investigates drug-related infant death patterns in the United States between 2018 and 2022. Study: Increases in drug-related infant mortality in the United States. Image Credit: PeopleImages.
com - Yuri A / Shutterstock.com Infant deaths are defined as deaths that occur between the time the child is born and one year of age. As compared to the previous year, there was a 3% increase in the overall infant mortality rate in the U.
S. in 2022, with an estimated infant mortality rate of 5.6 deaths for every 1,000 live births that year.
Infant mortality rates due to maternal complications and bacterial sepsis, both of which are leading causes of infant death, also increased during this period. In many cases, drugs are directly involved with or contributing to factors related to infant mortality. Infants can be introduced to various drugs through maternal use, illicit or non-medical use of drugs, and accidental intake of specific prescriptions.
Recently, there has been a significant increase in drug overdose deaths in the general population, including among pregnant and postpartum women. Since drug-related deaths are potentially avoidable causes, these events must be seriously investigated to reduce the rate of infant deaths. The current study explored the temporal trend in drug-related infant deaths between 2018 and 2022 in the U.
S. To this end, all relevant data were obtained from the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and .
