Oregon earned an “A” on the 2015 March of Dimes Premature Birth Report Card and for the first time claims the lowest rate of preterm birth in the nation; a title Vermont has held for several years. In addition to Oregon having the lowest rate of preterm birth of all the states, Portland has the lowest rate of the 100 U.S. cities with the greatest number of births.
Oregon’s preterm birth rate was 7.7 percent in 2014, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. The rate was better than the new March of Dimes 2020 goal of 8.1 percent. The report card also lists the state’s cities with the greatest number of births and their rates: Portland was 7.2 percent, Salem was 8.1 and Eugene was 8.0 percent.
“We attribute our lower premature birth rate to the willingness of Oregon health care providers and systems to come together and focus on improving health for mothers and babies,” said Aaron Caughey, MD, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Associate Dean for Women’s Health Research and Policy, Oregon Health & Science University.
Portland’s rate of 7.2 percent earns the city top spot on the list of the 100 U.S. cities with the greatest number of births, followed by Oxnard, California, at 7.8 percent. Vancouver, Washington, often considered within the greater Portland metro area, while not one of the 100 cities with the greatest number of births, has a 7.7 percent rate of premature birth; which is lower than its state’s rate of 8.1 percent and the lowest rate of the five cities with the most births in Washington.
“The success of Oregon in managing the rate of preterm deliveries cannot be attributed to just a single factor. Our patients are engaged and seek care early. Our providers have embraced many of the interventions proven to reduce preterm births and continue to work on adopting others. Our health systems and their leaders have collaborated to facilitate adoption of these interventions throughout the state,” said Mark Tomlinson, MD, Regional Director of Obstetrics, Providence Health and Services. “The dedication and hard work of our communities combined with a little luck have allowed us to excel!!”
“Oregon places a high priority on providing quality maternity care to its families,” said Joanne Rogovoy, State Director of Program Services at Greater Oregon March of Dimes.
Despite the progress, premature birth is the number one killer of babies and not all of our families are sharing in our success. There are large gaps in the preterm birth rate between communities in our state, and racial and ethnic disparities persist.
Oregon ranked 13th on the disparity index with a score of 19 to indicate the gaps between racial and ethnic groups in its preterm birth rate.
* National multi-media release can be found here:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7653351-march-of-dimes-premature-birth-report/
The US earned a “C” on the 2015 report card. Idaho, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington earned an “A”, 19 states received a “B”, 18 states and the District of Columbia got a “C”, six others a “D” and Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Puerto Rico received an “F”. The U.S. preterm birth rate ranks among the worst of high-resource countries, March of Dimes says. Worldwide, 15 million babies are born preterm, and nearly one million die due to complications of an early birth. Babies who survive an early birth face serious and lifelong health problems, including breathing problems, jaundice, vision loss, cerebral palsy and intellectual delays.
March of Dimes says the years of improvement in the US preterm birth rate came through bold leadership and the implementation of programs and policies by state and local health departments, hospitals and health care providers. Also, a more accurate method of measuring pregnancy length recently was adopted by the National Center for Health Statistics. The new measurement already is used by most other high-resource countries.
March of Dimes recognizes that continued research to identify new medical advances to prevent preterm birth is necessary in order to reach the new goal. March of Dimes is investing in a nationwide network of five new prematurity research centers to understand preterm birth and find solutions to this still too-common problem.
The 2015 Premature Birth Report Card provides rates and grades for major cities or counties in each state, and Puerto Rico. It also provides preterm birth rates by race and ethnicity for each state and applies a disparity index that ranks states.
Maine ranked first on the index with the smallest gaps between racial and ethnic groups in its preterm birth rate, while the District of Columbia had the largest gaps.
March of Dimes Board of Trustees set a new goal to lower the national preterm birth rate to 8.1 percent by 2020 and to 5.5 percent by 2030. Reaching the March of Dimes 2020 goal of 8.1 will mean that 210,000 fewer babies will be born preterm and achieving the 2030 goal will mean 1.3 million fewer babies will be born preterm, saving nearly $70 billion, the March of Dimes estimates.
March of Dimes Prematurity Campaign is guided by a Steering Committee of six leadership organizations. In addition to March of Dimes, members include: the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP); the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG); the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP); the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO); the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric & Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN); and the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO).
March of Dimes works to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. March of Dimes is the leading nonprofit organization for pregnancy and baby health. For the latest resources and information, visit marchofdimes.org or nacersano.org.