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LOS ANGELES — For the first time in three decades, the rate of premature births in the United States has declined for two years in a row, a finding that suggests the country is finally beginning to make some progress in the battle on that front.
The declines were widespread and encompassing, including all age groups under 40, all ethnicities, single and multiple births, vaginal and Caesarean births, and every state except Hawaii, according to the report issued Tuesday by the government’s National Center for Health Statistics.
The new data, compiled from the National Vital Statistics System, show that the preterm birth rate dropped from 12.8 percent in 2006 to 12.3 percent in 2008, the most recent year for which data are available.
