ORIGINALLY WRITTEN
Kansas teenagers were less likely to become pregnant in 2003 than at any time during the last decade, according to the 2003 Kansas Annual Summary of Vital Statistics published by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
Teen pregnancies are defined as the sum of live births, stillbirths and abortions. There were 3,542 teen pregnancies to Kansas residents in 2003.
The pregnancy rate for females ages 10-19 decreased 24.1 percent from 34.8 pregnancies per 1,000 female age-group population in 1994 to 26.4 in 2003.
Teen pregnancy rates for females ages 10-17 decreased 34.0 percent during the same time period. Pregnancy rates for 10-19 year old black mothers fell more steeply (down 42.5 percent) from 1994-2003 than rates for other population groups.
Information on teenage pregnancies is just part of the wealth of information provided in the Kansas Annual Summary of Vital Statistics.
The data compiled are used by program managers and policy makers at state and local levels to address health concerns.
Analysis of trend data, county data, and a comparison of Kansas to the nation are included in this report.
Some of the highlights from the report include:
n The Kansas infant mortality rate, the ratio of infant deaths to live births, tied with the 2000 rate for the lowest ever recorded. There were 39,353 live births and 262 infant deaths to Kansas residents in 2003.
This resulted in an infant mortality rate of 6.7 deaths per 1,000 live births and was a decrease of 6.9 percent from the infant mortality rate of 7.2 in 2002.
n The out-of-wedlock birth ratio has continued an upward trend over the years in both Kansas and the United States.
Out-of-wedlock births comprised 31.4 percent of all live births that occurred to Kansas residents in 2003, a 21.2 percent increase from 25.9 percent of live births in 1994.
n The abortion ratio for Kansas residents in 2003 was 156.6 per 1,000 live births, a decrease of 11.5 percent from the 177.0 ratio in 1994.
Ratios increased from 1991 to a high of 186.3 in 1996, and then generally declined for the next seven years.
n For the first time since deaths were collected (1911), there were no maternal deaths to Kansas residents in 2003.
n The average age at death of Kansas residents in 2003 was 74.5 years.
The average age at death for males was 70.4 years, for females 78.2. The average age at death for blacks was 64.0 years compared to 75.2 for whites.
n Unintentional injury and violent deaths account for nearly 50 (47.9) percent of deaths for those 1-44 years of age.
n The age-adjusted death rate for the leading cause of death, heart disease, was 210.3, and for cancer, the second-leading cause of death, the age-adjusted death rate was 184.5 per 100,000 standard U.S. 2000 population.
Together, these two causes accounted for almost 50 percent of all Kansas resident deaths.
n Couples in Kansas had fewer marriages in 2003, continuing a general downward trend that began in 1993.
In 2003, 18,722 marriages occurred in Kansas, a decrease of 5.4 percent from the 2002 total of 19,783.
The marriage rate (6.9 per 1,000 population) decreased 17.9 percent from the 1994 rate of 8.4.
The number of marriage dissolutions (divorces and annulments) also continued a downward trend that began in the early 1990s.
The 2003 Annual Summary is available in a PDF format at the KDHE Web site, http://www.kdhe. state.ks.us/hci/annsumm.html.
Requests for single, printed copies of the Annual Summary of Vital Statistics should be made to the KDHE, Center for Health and Environmental Statistics, Office of Health Care Information at 785-296-8627.
