Infant Mortality and Morbidity
The Infant Mortality and Morbidity dashboard provides Texas data on infant mortality, the leading causes of infant death, preterm birth, and low birthweight.
For questions about this data, send email to MCHEpi@dshs.texas.gov
Data Source
Texas Vital Statistics (VSTAT)
National Center for Health Statistics
Data Description
DSHS combines different data sources across many years to provide an overview of Texas infant mortality. The data support programs and policymakers monitor trends and make decisions to improve the health of Texas mothers and babies.
Because of rounding, some numbers in figures, graphs, or written results may not add to the total amount. Data and results are based on the most recent data available. The dashboard is updated annually.
Causes of Infant Death: DSHS used the NCHS Instruction Manual causes of infant death categories to determine the leading causes of Texas infant death in this dashboard. Not all Texas infant deaths are due to the leading causes shown in this dashboard. Causes of infant death are reported as the number of deaths per 10,000 live births.
Infant Mortality Rate (IMR): The number of infants one year old or less who died within a year divided by the number of live births in that same year multiplied by 1,000. The births include this rate are limited to women who live in Texas.
Race and Ethnicity: Race or ethnicity information shown in the dashboard refers to the mother, not the infant. However, infant death data is based on the infant’s race or ethnicity. Women who identified themselves as Hispanic were classified as Hispanic regardless of race. Women who did not identify as Hispanic were classified as non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, or non-Hispanic Other. The non-Hispanic Other category includes women who identified as Native American, Asian, or multiracial.
Additional Information
Aghighat, N., Hu, M., Laurent, O., Chung, J., Nguyen, P., & Wu, J. (2016). Comparison of birth certificates and hospital-based birth data on pregnancy complications in Los Angeles and Orange County, California. BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 16(1), 93.
Vinikoor, L. C., Messer, L. C., Laraia, B. A., & Kaufman, J. S. (2010). Reliability of variables on the North Carolina birth certificate: a comparison with directly queried values from a cohort study. Pediatric and perinatal epidemiology, 24(1), 102-112.
National Center for Health Statistics (2011). ICD–10 cause-of-death lists for tabulating mortality statistics (updated March 2011 to include WHO updates to ICD–10 for data year 2011). Retrieved from cdc.gov/nchs/data/dvs/Part9InstructionManual2011.pdf [Accessed March 28, 2022].