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• Report Summaries
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• Report Summaries
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Content Summary
The 2001 KIDS COUNT Factbook provides statistical data on the status of children in cities and towns across the state of Rhode Island, and is an important resource for community leaders and policy-makers. This seventh annual work also includes an aggregate profile based on data from five core cities (Providence, Pawtucket, Woonsocket, Newport, and Central Falls) in which more than fifteen percent of children are impoverished. Using the most current available data, The 2001 KIDS COUNT Factbook presents 43 indicators in the areas of Family and Community, Economic Well-Being, Health, Safety, and Education. A new health indicator for 2001 is “Children’s Mental Health.”

Major Findings
All data is specific to the state of Rhode Island, unless otherwise mentioned.

Children’s Health Insurance
Racial and ethnic minorities are less likely to be insured than non-Hispanic Whites.
Many low-income working families do not know that they qualify for government-sponsored health insurance.
Access to Dental Care
Rates of untreated dental problems are disproportionately found in impoverished children and minority children.
Participation rates of dentists who serve low-income children are very low.
Children’s Mental Health
External risk factors for developing a mental disorder include poverty, deprivation, and other stressful family situations. Children with prenatal damage due to low birthweight, and exposure to alcohol and drugs are at a higher risk of developing a mental disorder.
Women and Children Receiving WIC
Poor, minority, or poorly educated mothers and children continue to benefit the most from WIC.
WIC is not able to serve all of the mothers, infants, and children who are eligible for the program.
Women with Delayed Prenatal Care
Reasons for delaying prenatal care include being a teen mother, lack of money or insurance for medical visits, or no connection to a medical provider.
Black, Asian, and/or Hispanic women continue to be more likely to delay prenatal care until after the first trimester than White women.
The rate of delayed prenatal care has decreased overall.
Low Birthweight Infants
Incidence of low birthweight is strongly linked to poverty.
Black women are twice as likely to have a low birthweight infant than White women, and the rate is higher than any other racial or ethnic group, due to higher rates of preterm delivery. Causes of preterm delivery are not well understood.
Infant Mortality
Infant mortality is linked to low birthweight and preterm delivery.
Social and environmental factors in communities with multiple problems such as poverty, poor housing conditions, and unemployment are associated with high infant mortality rates.
In the past ten years, infant mortality rates declined for White and Black infants, but increased for Hispanic and Asian infants.
Children with Lead Poisoning
Low-income children and minority children are most likely to be affected, due to a lack of newer and affordable housing.
The core cities have child lead exposure rates that are three times the statewide levels.
Children with Asthma
Black and Hispanics are more likely to suffer from asthma, due to associations between the prevalence of asthma and poverty levels, urban air quality, indoor allergens, and lack of patient education and adequate medical care.
A disproportionate percentage of hospitalizations for childhood asthma are for Black, Asian, and Hispanic children.
Births to Teens
In the past decade, the birth rates for Hispanic and Asian teens have increased, while the birth rates for White and Black teens have decreased.
The birth rate for Hispanic teens is more than four times the overall rate for all racial and ethnic groups.
Alcohol, Drug, and Cigarette Use by Teens
Certain factors in a teen’s life, including unsupervised time with friends, academic problems, and drinking patterns of close friends, have significant impact on teen health and well-being that cut across the lines of race, gender and class.
Additional Children’s Health Issues: Childhood Immunizations
White infants and toddlers have higher rates of vaccination than their Black and Hispanic infants and toddlers.
Racial and ethnic disparities in vaccination are decreasing, but impoverished children are still less likely to receive the recommended vaccinations.

Unaddressed Issues or Concerns
The sections on delayed prenatal care, low birthweight infants, and infant mortality linked these conditions to poverty, and noted the racial disparities. A social factor influencing these disparities that is not mentioned in this report is cultural insensitivity, in addition to insufficient health literacy and limits to health care access (Anachebe and Sutton).

Reference List
Anachebe, Ngozi F. and Madeline Sutton. “Racial Disparities in Reproductive Health Outcomes.” American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 188.4 (2003): S37-42.

How to Access Report
http://www.rikidscount.org/matriarch/LinksPage.asp_
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