U.S. preterm births and infant mortality rates are declining, according to a newly-released federal report that tracks children's health.
The report, called America's Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2012, tracks several indicators of children's health. Other good signs in the new report include further declines in the teen birth rate, which has been dropping for several years; a decrease in the number of children living in a home where someone smokes; and a decrease in the proportion of 12- to 17-year-olds who were victims of violent crime. Not all indicators are rosy, however: fewer children live in a home where at least one parent is employed full-time and more children are living in poverty, for instance.
More details are available in an NIH press release about the report.
