ATLANTA - Health officials said Thursday that infant mortality dropped 20 percent in the 1990s. They credited a push for prenatal care and new technology that helps keep low-birthweight babies alive. <br>
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The National Center for Health Statistics said nearly 28,000 infants died in 1999, or seven for every one-thousand live births. The rate was 8.9 for every 1,000 live births in 1990. <br>
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NCHS demographer T.J. Mathews said, ``This is very good news. But the rate is still too high in the U.S. Everybody agrees on that.'' <br>
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Indeed, health officials want to see the figure down to 4.5 by the end of this decade. And the new report should help, providing a snapshot of the practices that put babies most at risk. <br>
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Babies born to women who smoke, for example, died at a 59 percent higher rate in 1999. And seeking care in the first trimester of pregnancy appears to cut the risk of infant mortality by nearly one-third. <br>
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Mathews said prenatal care was a key part of health officials' battle against infant mortality in the 1990s.
