Race- and rank-specific infant mortality in a US military population
J. S. Rawlings and M. R. Weir
Department of Pediatrics, Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, Wash 98431-5000.
Mortality among black infants in the United States is approximately twice
that among white infants. The disparity has been attributed in large part
to the higher incidence of poverty and limited access to health care among
black Americans. We investigated race- and rank-specific infant mortality
rates among dependents of military officers and soldiers at Madigan Army
Medical Center, Tacoma, Wash, between 1985 and 1990. The overall infant
mortality rate was 9.3 deaths per 1000 live births compared with 10.1
deaths per 1000 live births in the United States in 1987. Mortality rates
for infants born to families of junior enlisted soldiers were similar to
those for infants born to families of noncommissioned and commissioned
officers. The mortality rate among black infants was 11.1 deaths per 1000
live births compared with 17.9 deaths per 1000 live births among all black
Americans in 1987. These lower rates of mortality among black infants may
be due to guaranteed access to health care and higher levels of family
education and income in the multiracial subpopulation served by our medical
center compared with the nation as a whole.
