MAHONING COUNTY Board studies how to stop child deaths

In Mahoning County, nonwhites accounted for 48 percent of child deaths in 2000.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- There was a slight downward trend in the number of child deaths in Mahoning County between 1992 and 2000, with sharp dips in 1996 and 2000 because of declines in infant deaths.
The decrease was among a number of statistics revealed in the Mahoning County Child Fatality Review Board's first annual review of child deaths.
The board was created in 2000 to review all fetal and child deaths that occur in the county, with the goal of understanding the cause and contributing factors for those deaths.
"Last year, 44 children did not survive to adulthood. We know that the deaths of many of these children were preventable, said Matthew Stefanak, Mahoning County health commissioner.
Meeting: Stefanak and Dr. Jesse Giles, county deputy coroner, presented the board's recommendations for preventing future child deaths at a community meeting this morning at Oakhill Renaissance Center.
Because the statistical information gathered reveals that children under age one and teen-agers have a disproportional number of deaths, the board's recommendations this year focused on those two age groups, the report says.
In 2000, nine county teens ages 13 to 17 died -- four from homicide; three from motor vehicle crashes; and two from suicide.
Babies: Twenty-two children under the age of one died in 2000, half from premature birth ; five from birth defects; two each from other natural causes and overlay (caused when parents roll onto children or the child gets tangled in bedding and suffocates); and one each from cancer and homicide.
Conclusions from the report include:
UA significant racial disparity between whites and nonwhites in child deaths exist. In Mahoning County, nonwhites made up 24 percent of the population in the 1990 Census, but they accounted for 48 percent of child deaths in 2000.
UFrom 1992 to 2000, males accounted for 59 percent of child deaths. Much of the difference is because males are known to have poorer survival rates in infancy and suffer more intentional and unintentional injuries in adolescence.
UBetween 1998 and 2000, there were 116 child deaths due to natural causes, half of which were caused by premature birth and 20 percent by birth defects.
UDuring the years 1998 through 2000, there were 46 deaths from nonnatural or injury-related causes: homicides, 37 percent; accidents such as drowning, bicycle crashes and overlay, 24 percent; motor vehicle accidents, 17 percent; suicides and fires, 13 percent each.
UPremature birth caused 12 of the 22 infant deaths (children under the age of one) in the county in 2000.
UNearly 38 percent of the infants who died in 2000 were born to teen mothers.
alcorn@vindy.com