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Childbirth in rural Appalachia has long been a subject of concern. Infant mortality rates are higher in Appalachia than in other parts of the United States. Additionally, poor health in utero, at birth, and in childhood can contribute to poor health throughout life. The region's low income, geographic isolation, and low levels of educational attainment reduce both access to and utilization of modern medical care. Traditional medical practices, including lay midwifery, persisted longer in Appalachia than in other U.S. regions. ==Health statistics== The Appalachian region has higher overall mortality rates than the United States as a whole. Factors considered to contribute to the region's poor health outcomes include low income, geographic isolation, and low levels of educational attainment. Statistics compiled in 1916 indicated that women in southern Appalachia were less likely to die from causes related to childbirth than women in the rest of the U.S., but their babies were less likely to survive their first year. The maternal death rate in southern Appalachia was 12.7 per 100,000 births, compared with rates of 15.1 per 100,000 for the entire rural United States and 16.3 per 100,000 in the nation as a whole. Nationally, the rate of infant mortality was 211.1 per 100,000, but it was higher in five of six southern Appalachian states (all except Tennessee). Infant mortality accounted for one-fourth to one-fifth of all deaths in Kentucky, Maryland, and North Carolina, compared with one-sixth of all deaths in the whole United States. Some observers attributed the high infant mortality to premature births and a practice of feeding infants adult food at too early an age.〔 〕 An analysis performed for the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) found that, as of 2000, 108 of the 406 counties in the ARC region had county-wide shortages of health professionals, 189 counties had shortages in part of the county, and 109 counties had no shortages. Clusters of counties with county-wide shortages were identified in central West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, northeastern Mississippi, and central Alabama.〔 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Childbirth in rural Appalachia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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