Newly released data from the revised U.S. birth certificate, 2011.

OBJECTIVES

This report is the first release of multistate data for selected items exclusive to the 2003 revision of the U.S. Standard Certificate of Live Birth. Included is information for prepregnancy body mass index, smoking and quitting smoking in the 3 months prior to pregnancy, receipt of food from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) during pregnancy, pregnancy resulting from infertility treatment, source of payment for delivery, and maternal morbidities.

METHODS

Descriptive statistics are presented for 100% of 2011 births to residents of the 36 states, the District of Columbia (D.C.), and Puerto Rico that had implemented the revised birth certificate by January 1, 2011. This reporting area is not a random sample, and results are not generalizable to the United States as a whole.

RESULTS

The 3,267,934 births to residents of the 36-state and D.C. reporting area represented 83% of all 2011 U.S. births. Levels of prepregnancy obesity ranged from 18.0% in Utah to 28.6% in South Carolina. Hispanic women were the least likely to smoke in the 3 months prior to pregnancy and were the most likely to quit smoking prior to pregnancy. Women under age 20 were more than twice as likely to receive WIC food during pregnancy as women aged 35 and over in nearly all states and D.C. The percentage of births resulting from infertility treatment ranged from 0.3% in New Mexico to over 3.5% in Maryland and Utah. The percentage of deliveries covered by Medicaid ranged from 28.8% in North Dakota to 64.2% in Louisiana.