Neonatal Intensive Care and Inequality in Infant Mortality in U.S. States

• In Event: 150 - Regular Session. Health Disparities in Social Context

Abstract

Infants born to mothers with high educational attainment consistently experience lower rates of mortality than infants born to mothers with low education. However, recent research identifies considerable variation in the magnitude of these inequalities across U.S. states. Moreover, this work highlights the provision of neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) as a key state-level factor that is associated with inequality in infant mortality between education groups. In this project, I explore the processes driving this association. I draw on information about the mechanisms through which intensive care technology influences infant health to generate and test hypotheses about the link between state NICU availability and inequality in infant mortality. I find that this relationship is driven by driven by the effects of NICU facilities on neonatal mortality and on mortality among very low birth weight infants. This is consistent with the notion that investments in state infrastructure targeted at neonatal intensive care may help to reduce infant mortality rates while also reducing inequality in infant mortality between socioeconomic groups.

Author

• Benjamin Curran Sosnaud, Harvard University