By Angie Newsome
ANEWSOME@CITIZEN-TIMES.COM

More babies squalled and crawled in North Carolina in 2005 than ever before, yet the infant mortality rate remained the same as 2004, according to recent data.

Infant mortality rates held at about 8.8 per 1,000 live births in the state where more than 123,000 babies were born, N.C. Department of Health & Human Services State Center for Health Statistics data show.

The rate was slightly higher than 2001-05 rates, which could be considered more representative overall.

Mitchell, Macon, Rutherford, Transylvania and Cherokee counties all had higher-than-average infant mortality rates. Several other Western North Carolina counties had so few deaths that rates were unreliable.

Last week, Action for Children North Carolina and the North Carolina Institute of Medicine released its 12th annual Child Health Report Card, giving the state a B overall for the rate infants

1-year-old and younger die. (more…)