The Percentage of Live Births to Women Who Had Completed a High School Degree or Higher by Small Area, New Mexico, 2012-2016
Indicator Report Data View Options
Why Is This Important?
A mother's education level affects decisions directly influencing her and her children's health. Worldwide, higher maternal education is linked to decreases in low birth weight, infant mortality, and maternal mortality. Level of education is related to children's physical health and academic outcomes, both as children and adults. Maternal education is associated with children's nutritional status and potential obesity. Children of mothers with a high school diploma or less have a higher likelihood of adolescent obesity. Higher education levels are associated with maternal reproductive decisions including contraceptive use, having fewer children, and a later age of marriage.
The Percentage of Live Births to Women Who Had Completed a High School Degree or Higher by Small Area, New Mexico, 2012-2016
Definition
Percentage of live births to women who had completed high school or higher. Includes New Mexico resident births. Unknown and missing responses have been excluded from the denominator.
Data Sources
- Birth Certificate Data, Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics (BVRHS), Epidemiology and Response Division, New Mexico Department of Health.
(https://www.nmhealth.org/about/erd/bvrhs/vrp/) - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, CDC WONDER Online Database
(http://wonder.cdc.gov)
How the Measure is Calculated
| Numerator: | Number of live-born infants born to women who had completed high school or higher. |
| Denominator: | Total number of live-born infants. |
Data Issues
Birth certificate information is submitted electronically by hospital medical records staff who use standard mother and facility worksheets and medical charts to collect the needed information. Training of hospital staff is provided by the Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics (BVRHS). The birth certificate information is reviewed by BVRHS for completeness and consistency with state law and NMDOH and national guidelines. BVRHS will contact hospital staff for clarification of missing, inconsistent or incorrect entries. CDC's National Center for Health Statistics provides feedback to BVRHS on data quality and the NMDOH provides feedback to the hospitals to improve data quality and training.Health Topic Pages Related to: Birth Mothers' Educational Attainment: High School Degree or Higher
Community Health Resources and Links
- Healthy People 2030 Website
- The Guide to Community Preventive Services
- U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
- County Health Rankings
- Kaiser Family Foundation's StateHealthFacts
Medical literature can be queried at the PubMed website.