By Andy East
Local health officials are “pleased” but say more work still needs to be done after seeing a decrease in the number of infant deaths within Bartholomew County so far this year.
From Jan. 1 to Oct. 13, two infants died within the Bartholomew County limits, according to the Bartholomew County Health Department. By comparison, eight infants died within the county during all of last year.
A total of 54 infant deaths have been recorded within Bartholomew County since 2009, including nine in 2011, according to county records.
The cause of death in both cases this year was listed as “extreme prematurity,” according to county records. Both infants were less than 3 months old and were Bartholomew County residents.
Officials at Columbus Regional Health and Healthy Communities said they have amplified outreach and education efforts in recent years to curb the county’s alarmingly high infant mortality rate, but it is too soon to know the extent to which these efforts may have contributed to the lower numbers this year.
Infant mortality, which refers to the death of a baby younger than 1 year of age, is a complex issue, and experts say it can be difficult to pin down the causes and contributing factors that ultimately lead to the death of an infant.
Researchers and policymakers often consider the infant mortality rate to be a barometer of the overall health of a community.
“There is a decrease in numbers,” said Chris Newkirk, a clinical quality advisor at Columbus Regional Hospital and member of the Infant Mortality Prevention Action Team and Healthy Communities. “I would say 2019 was a really high, abnormal number for us that we did not want to see — 2020 looks more in line with where we would expect to be based on our population.”
“We’re really pleased with the improvement that we’re seeing thus far,” she said.
For more on this story, see Sunday’s Republic.
