Kristie McNealy, MD

Today, I wanted to wrap up Prematurity Awareness Month by taking a quick look at the 2009 Premature Birth Report card, an annual initiative of the March of Dimes.  Once again, the nation as a whole scored a ‘D’ for their premature birth rate.  There wasn’t a single state that got an ‘A’, and for the second year in a row Vermont led the pack by earning the only ‘B’ grade.  This year, Puerto Rico (19.4%) and Louisiana (16.5%) had the highest preterm birth rates.

Each state, and the country as a whole, were assigned a letter grade based on how their premature birth rate compared to the Healthy People 2010 goal of 7.6%.  With a nationwide preterm birth rate of 12.7%, we are definitely failing.

There were a few bright spots on the score card this year.  A total of 27 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico all lowered their late preterm birth rate.  In addition, 22 states and WashingtonD.C. also reduced the percentage of uninsured women of childbearing age.

If you’d like to see how your state did, you can check out a PDF of the report card results here.

Similar Posts:

• US Gets a D on Premature Birth Report Card – Blogging for Prematurity Awareness
• Ohio Lawmakers form Caucus in Response to Rising Rate of Prematurity
• A Brief Rant on Prematurity Awareness . . . Medical Monday
• Prematurity Awareness Month Facts Everyone Should Care About