The birth rate for U.S. teens aged 15-19 years dropped to its lowest ever recorded levels in 2010, according to a new government report.
A slight decrease in cesarean section delivery rates also was notable as the first drop since 1996. The C-section rate decreased to 32.8% last year, compared with 32.9% in 2009.
The rate of 34 births per 1,000 females aged 15-19 years represents a 9% decline from 2009 and continues the decreasing trend observed in 17 of the past 19 years, according to the National Vital Statistics Report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Similarly, birth rates among all other adolescents dropped to historic lows last year as well, according to the 36-page report entitled "Births: Preliminary Data for 2010" (Nat. Vital Stat. Rep. 2011;60:1-36).
The birth rate for girls aged 10-14 years declined from 0.5 per 1,000 in 2009 to 0.4 in 2010, for example. Just looking at the oldest teenagers, those aged 18-19, the birth rate declined 9% as well, from 64 per 1,000 in 2009 to 58 per 1,000 in 2010.
In terms of absolute numbers, total births among teenagers younger than 20 years were 372,252 in 2010, the fewest since 1946.
These findings come from an analysis by researchers at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, who have access to 100% of birth records collected from all 50 states each year.
Historic lows in birth rates also were discovered for all race or Hispanic-origin groups of teens aged 15-19 years old. For example, compared with 2009, rates decreased 9% among non-Hispanic whites to 24 per 1,000 births and 9% among non-Hispanic black teenagers to 52 per 1,000 last year. Greater decreases, 12% each, were observed among American Indian/Alaska natives (to 39 per 1,000) and Hispanics (to 56 per 1,000) in 2010. The greatest decrease, 13%, was reported among Asian or Pacific Islander teenagers (to 11 per 1,000).
The researchers also assessed the data for characteristics of maternal and infant health at birth. The one-tenth of a percentage point drop in cesarean deliveries last year, for example, was the first decrease seen in more than a decade. Prior to 2010, the proportion of births in the United States delivered via C-section had risen steadily from approximately 21% in 1996 to 32.9% in 2009. The pace of the increase had slowed in recent years, the report authors noted.
Unlike the teenage birth rate findings, decreases in cesarean sections were not uniform according to the race or ethnicity of the mother. Non-Hispanic white women experienced a decrease from 32.8% in 2009 to 32.6% last year, whereas the rate did not significantly change among non-Hispanic black mothers, from 35.5% to 34.4%. At the same time, the rate actually increased among Hispanic mothers, from 31.6% to 31.8%.
Maternal age was not significantly associated with changes in the C-section rate. Between 2009 and 2010, cesarean rates either declined slightly or remained essentially unchanged for U.S. women of all age groups.
Other major findings of the report included:
• The preterm birth rate fell to 11.99% in 2010, the fourth consecutive year this decreased. The decline in the preterm rate for 2010 was primarily among infants delivered late preterm (at 34-36 weeks’ gestation), down 2% from 8.66% to 8.49%.
• The rate of low birth weight births remained essentially the same at 8.15%.
• Preliminary data suggest a 3% decrease in the general fertility rate in the United States, from 66.2 births per 1,000 women aged 15-44 years in 2009 to a rate of 64.1 per 1,000 last year. This is the lowest rate reported since the late 1990s.
• Preliminary data also point to a 4% decrease in the birth rate among unmarried women, from 49.9 per 1,000 in 2009 to 47.7 births per 1,000 in 2010. This is the second year of a decrease in this rate and contrasts the 19% increase recorded between 2002 and 2007.