Number of births decrease 18% in Cleveland from 2000-02 to 2003-05

A comparison of birth certificate data for Cleveland from 2000-2002 to 2003-2005 revealed an 18.2% decrease in live births and an 18.1% decrease for births to teens age 19 years and younger. However, more of those births to teens occurred among African American/Black mothers in 2003-2005 compared to 2000-2002. Increases in low and very low birthweight babies reflect national trends where aggressive medical services and technology are more readily available to save newborns younger than 28 weeks. Improvements in the percentage of mothers starting prenatal care in the first trimester were noted. Report from the Cleveland Department of Public Health.