From Politics to Premies: Is Fear & Denigration Driving Higher Infant Mortality?

It’s a common knowledge that stress can spike anxiety, increase high blood pressure and lead to various forms of heart disease. Our current environment of escalating hostility, intolerance and the politics of invective is taking a toll on people’s health. Examples include increased volume in emergency rooms, poor pregnancy outcomes and an assault on the mental and emotional health of children and families.

In a study released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reported in the Washington Post, researchers found that the risk of premature birth among Latinas has risen unexpectedly since 2017. According to an OB/GYN researcher at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital, an expert not associated with the study released by the CDC, “You have a date when a baby should have been born and when it actually is. You have weight, length of stay at hospital. It’s extremely objective data.”

This is worrying, as premature birth & low birth weight constitute one of the top five causes of infant mortality. In an America where access to health care is a growing problem for many children and families— due to cost and/or lack of insurance—this is truly bad news.