This repository contains the code and data for "Trends in Maternal, Fetal, and Infant Mortality in the US, 2000-2023" (JAMA Pediatrics 2025; see paper here).
bibtex:
@article{park2025trends,
title={Trends in maternal, fetal, and infant mortality in the US, 2000-2023},
author={Robin Y. Park and Alyssa Bilinski and Robbie M. Parks and Seth Flaxman},
journal={JAMA Pediatrics},
year={2025},
publisher={American Medical Association}
}
All data are publicly available to download from CDC WONDER (https://wonder.cdc.gov). Maternal deaths data are extracted from the Provisional Mortality Statistics tables, available for 1999-2023. Fetal deaths data are extracted from the Fetal Deaths table, available for 2005-2021. Natality data (to index deaths by live births) are extracted from three Natality datasets covering 1995-2023. The death counts are aggregated (separately or in combination) by year, age, racial/ethnic group, and census region.
Below is the data use restrictions for CDC WONDER datasets.
Data obtained from the National Center for Health Statistics, including Compressed Mortality, Fetal Deaths, Linked Birth / Infant Death records, Multiple Cause of Death, Natality, Provisional Mortality, Underlying Cause of Death, and other presentations of vital records data, are also covered by the following policy: The Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 242m(d)) provides that the data collected by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) may be used only for the purpose for which they were obtained; any effort to determine the identity of any reported cases, or to use the information for any purpose other than for statistical reporting and analysis, is against the law.
Therefore users will:
- Use these data for statistical reporting and analysis only.
- Do not present or publish statistics representing nine or fewer births or deaths, including rates based on counts of nine or fewer births or deaths, in figures, graphs, maps, tables, etc.
- Make no attempt to learn the identity of any person or establishment included in these data.
- Make no disclosure or other use of the identity of any person or establishment discovered inadvertently and advise the Director, NCHS of any such discovery.