ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 27, 1995 TAG: 9512270078
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH
SOURCE: Associated Press
The city health department is investigating why the infant mortality rate is higher than in some larger urban areas.
Dr. Suzanne Dandoy, city health director, does not have any theories about the problem. ``All [the rate] has done so far is say to me, `What is going on here?''' she said.
According to a national report on public health in big cities, Virginia Beach in recent years has had a higher infant mortality rate than Oakland, Calif.; San Francisco; Dallas; and several other large cities. However, the Virginia Beach rates have remained lower than in neighboring Norfolk and Portsmouth.
The 1994 infant mortality rate in Virginia Beach was eight deaths within a year of birth for every 1,000 live births. The rate for whites was 8.6, while the rate for blacks was 7.6. Statewide in 1994, 8.2 babies of every 1,000 died with in a year of being born, with a rate for white infants of 6.3 and a rate for black infants of 15.1.
Virginia Beach's situation stands out because the high rate doesn't appear to have a strong connection to two factors that tend to accompany high infant mortality - the number of low-birth-weight babies and the death of babies in the minority population.
Andrea Wenger is an epidemiologist from Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk. She is working with the city, and looking at birth and death information compiled by the state.
During her study, Wenger will look at a lot of factors, including cause of death; where the mothers lived; the mothers' ethnicity, marital status and prenatal care; and whether the mothers smoked.
LENGTH: Short : 41 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB