PeriStats compiles maternal and infant health data from multiple sources. These data are often referred to as perinatal data. The term "perinatal" can be used in a generic or a very specific way. It means around (peri-) the time of birth (-natal), so it can be used to refer to the entire or parts of the period around conception and through the first year of life.
In an average week in Los Angeles city:
| ||1,012 babies are born.|
| ||104 babies are born preterm.|
| ||73 babies are born low birthweight.|
| ||5 babies die before reaching their first birthday.|
| ||In Los Angeles city in 2012, 97.2% of all live births were singleton births and 2.8% were multiple births.|
| ||Every 4 1/2 minutes a baby is born with a birth defect in the United States.|
| ||In 2010, birth defects accounted for about 1 in 6 infant deaths in Los Angeles city.|
| ||In Los Angeles city in 2012, 36.6% of live births were cesarean deliveries and 63.4% were vaginal deliveries.|
| ||In 2012, about 1 in 28 infants (3.6% of live births) was born to a woman receiving late or no prenatal care in Los Angeles city.|
| ||In 2005, the annual societal economic cost (medical, educational, and lost productivity) associated with preterm birth in the United States was at least $26.2 billion.|
| ||In the United States, screening for the 31 core newborn screening conditions is not universally required by rule or law and fully implemented in any state.|
National Center for Health Statistics, final natality data.
National Center for Health Statistics, period linked birth/infant death data.
Annual number of birth defects based on estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
National Newborn Screening and Genetics Resource Center.
Institute of Medicine. 2007. Preterm Birth: Causes, Consequences, and Prevention. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C. Published and unpublished analyses.
Retrieved December 20, 2014, from www.marchofdimes.org/peristats.