1B. NATALITY: MATERNAL CHARACTERISTICS ANDNEWBORN?SHEALTH
Cigarette smoking during pregnancy
has been associated with reduced
infant weight at birth, intrauterine
growth retardation, and preterm births.
Smoking during pregnancy was
reported by 4.4 percent of women
giving birth in 2013 (
Table 1B-26
,
Table 5B-30
), compared to 10.5
percent in 1989, when this information
was first reported on Arizona birth
certificates. It is unclear whether this
decline means that women giving birth
in Arizona are less likely to use tobacco
during pregnancy or, perhaps, less
likely to report it if they use. White
non-Hispanic and Black mothers
continued to be more likely to report
smoking than American Indian,
Hispanic, and Asian mothers (
Figure
1B-23
).
Figure1B-23
Self-reportedTobaccoUse duringPregnancy
a
byRace/Ethnicity,
Arizona, 2013
Notes:
a
Mothers giving birthwho reported tobacco use per 100 births in specified group.
In 2013, 4,515, or 5.3 percent of
newborns were admitted to newborn
intensive care units (NICUs). Around 49
percent of the NICU admissions were
low birthweight (LBW) babies.
Prematurity, i.e., gestational age
before 37 weeks captured more NICU
admissions than did LBW, with 56.7
percent of NICU admissions being
premature (based on data in
Table
1B-33
). The proportion of NICU
admissions differed among racial/ethnic
groups. In 2013, the rate of NICU
admissions for Black or African
American births was the highest among
racial/ethnic groups (7.2 percent;
Table1B-26
).
Figure1B-24
Rates of Admission toNewborn IntensiveCareUnits
a
byMother?sRace/Ethnicity,
Arizona, 2013
Notes:
a
The number of newborns admitted to Intensive Care Units per 100 births in specified group.
Arizona Health Status and Vital Statistics 2013
29
