Evaluating the Prevalence of Maternal Health Indicators on Infant Mortality Rates in Florida.

Background The infant mortality rate is defined as the number of infant deaths for every 1000 live births. In 2020, the infant mortality rate was 5.8% in the state of Florida, compared to 7.0% in 2000. Although infant mortality rates have declined in the state of Florida, disparities influencing these rates exist across varying Florida counties, with the widest differences being compared between the healthiest versus unhealthiest counties in Florida. Many factors can contribute to high infant mortality rates in certain counties, including income inequality, access to and quality of healthcare, race/ethnicity, obesity, and disadvantaged socioeconomic status (SES). Methods This study utilized data from Florida Health Charts on infant mortality rates in the state of Florida and the Pregnancy and Young Child Profiles in 10 counties to examine how certain risk factors impact infant mortality outcomes in the state of Florida. These 10 counties consist of five healthiest and five unhealthiest counties, as determined by the 2022 County Health Rankings data. T-tests were used to evaluate the relationship between county health status and several county health indicators. Results The average infant mortality rate from 2011 to 2020 differed significantly among healthy and unhealthy counties (p-value=0.0000). Median household income, individuals below the poverty level, and those aged zero to 17 years old were found to differ significantly by county health status (p-values 0.0000, 0.001, and 0.009, respectively). However, mothers having no high school education, births with first-trimester care, births with adequate care, and births with late or no prenatal care were not statistically significant. Conclusion Our study suggests that counties more likely to have fewer resources than other counties, such as those considered unhealthy, are more impacted by a higher infant mortality rate. The unhealthy counties in this study were found to have lower average median household income, higher rates of no high school education among mothers, and less prenatal care in comparison to healthy counties.