Developing a Standard Approach to Examine Infant Mortality: Findings from the State Infant Mortality Collaborative (SIMC) Caroline Stampfel, Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs, 2030 M Street NW, Suite 350, Washington, DC 20036, USA Charlan D. Kroelinger, Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA Matthew Dudgeon, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA David Goodman, Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA Lauren Raskin Ramos, and Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs, 2030 M Street NW, Suite 350, Washington, DC 20036, USA Wanda D. Barfield Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA Caroline Stampfel: cstampfel@amchp.org Abstract States can improve pregnancy outcomes by using a standard approach to assess infant mortality. The State Infant Mortality Collaborative (SIMC) developed a series of analyses to describe infant mortality in states, identify contributing factors to infant death, and develop the evidence base for implementing new or modifying existing programs and policies addressing infant mortality. The SIMC was conducted between 2004 and 2006 among five states: Delaware, Hawaii, Louisiana, Missouri, and North Carolina. States used analytic strategies in an iterative process to investigate contributors to infant mortality. Analyses were conducted within three domains: data reporting (quality, reporting, definitional criteria, and timeliness), cause and timing of infant death (classification of cause and fetal, neonatal, and postneonatal timing), and maturity and weight at birth/maturity and birth weight-specific mortality. All states identified the SIMC analyses as useful for examining infant mortality trends. In each of the three domains, SIMC results were used © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2012 Correspondence to: Caroline Stampfel, cstampfel@amchp.org. Disclaimer: The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HHS Public Access Author manuscript Matern Child Health J. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2015 January 21. Published in final edited form as: Matern Child Health J. 2012 December ; 16(0 2): 360–369. doi:10.1007/s10995-012-1167-8. Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author Manuscript