The U.S. preterm birth rate in 2013 was the lowest since 1996, reaching the Healthy People 2020 goal 7 years early, according to a report from the March of Dimes.
Although the U.S. preterm birth rate of 11.4% met the Healthy People 2020 goal, it earned only a C on the March of Dimes’ report card because it did not meet the organization’s goal of a 9.6% rate by 2020. “The U.S. still has one of the highest rates of preterm birth of any high-resource country and we must change that,” Dr. Jennifer L. Howse, March of Dimes president, said in a statement.
The preterm birth rate was at 12.8% in 2006, but since then the rate has declined slowly every year. More than 540,000 babies were born premature in 2006, but fewer than 460,000 were born in 2013. Overall, about 231,000 fewer babies were born preterm since 2006 through sustained intervention, saving $11.9 billion in health care costs, the March of Dimes noted.
The preliminary data for 2013 show that Vermont had the lowest preterm birth rate in the nation at 8.1%, followed by California at 8.8%, and New Hampshire at 9%. At 16.6%, Mississippi had the highest rate, with Alabama and Louisiana at 15.1%. The Southeast United States had the highest preterm birth rates of any region, with the five highest rates all in the Deep South and only Virginia having a rate below 12%, the March of Dimes reported, using data from the National Center for Health Statistics.
