ESCANABA - A recent review by the Right Start of Michigan found that the state improved on six of eight measures of maternal and infant health and well-being. The study reports drastic drops in the rates of teen pregnancies and pregnant mothers who smoke, and an increase in non-marital births and babies born with low birth-weights.

Kids Count in Michigan annually updates these measures, which are all related to the life prospects for a newborn, in a county-by-county breakdown. Delta County improved on four of the eight measures, Schoolcraft County improved on three of seven measurable areas, Menominee County improved on three of eight measures. The U.P. as a whole improved on six of eight.

Jane Zehnder-Merrell, senior research associate at Michigan League for Human Services said the state-wide drop in children born to teens and repeat births in teens are a great sign.

"I always look at the decline in the percentage of teen births as a two-for," said Zehnder-Merrell. "(When a child is born to a teen mother) it means we have not only a mother who is compromised, but also a child at risk."

Although Michigan still has about 15,000 full-term teen pregnancies per year, Zehnder-Merrell said the state is making substantial progress as far as teen births and repeat teen births.

"The decline in those two high-risk populations mean that we are getting a lot more young people through school and into their early 20's before they start to have children," she said.

Zehnder-Merrell said another interesting finding from this analysis of indicators county-by-county and also by size, is that smoking while pregnant is much more likely in the more rural areas of Michigan.

"In the urban group we have a rates of 13 percent (of smoking during pregnancy)," said Zehnder-Merrell. "It's nearly twice as high in the mid-size counties at 22 percent, and twice as high in rural at 27 percent. That's the big difference in this study and I was surprised."

Locally, Delta and Menominee counties are considered mid-size counties based on population, whereas Schoolcraft was considered rural county.

The measures tested in the study included:

Births to women receiving late or no prenatal care

Delta - 6.1 percent of births, up 83.1 percent from 1992 to 2007

Schoolcraft - 3.1 percent of births, up 16.3 percent from 1992 to 2007

Menominee - 2.3 percent of births, down 47.9 percent from 1992 to 2007

U.P.-wide - 3.5 percent of births, up 35 percent from 1992 to 2007

State-wide - 3.3 percent of births, down 15.1 percent from 1992 to 2007

Smoking during pregnancy

Delta - 22.3 percent of births, down 30.1 percent from 1992 to 2007

Schoolcraft - 29.3 percent of births, down 14.8 percent from 1992 to 2007

Menominee - 31.2 percent of births, up 4 percent from 1992 to 2007

U.P.-wide 23.7 percent of births, down 10.2 percent from 1992 to 2007

State-wide - 14.1 percent of births, down 34 percent from 1992 to 2007

Births to teens under age 20

Delta - 7.9 percent of births, down 38.2 percent from 1992 to 2007

Schoolcraft - 6.2 percent of births, down 54.6 percent from 1992 to 2007

Menominee - 12.6 percent of births, down 1.2 percent from 1992 to 2007

U.P.-wide - 8.6 percent of births, down 26 percent from 1992 to 2007

State-wide - 9.8 percent of births, down 26.2 percent from 1992 to 2007

Repeat births to teens ages 15 - 19

Delta - 12.6 percent of births, down 41.3 percent from 1992 to 2007

Schoolcraft - 18.6 percent of births as of 1998 - 2000

Menominee - 19.5 percent of births, up 103.2 percent from 1992 to 2007

U.P.-wide - 14.1 percent of births, down 14.6 percent from 1992 to 2007

Non-marital births

Delta - 32.8 percent of births, up 29.1 percent from 1992 to 2007

Schoolcraft - 40 percent of births, up 29.2 percent from 1992 to 2007

Menominee - 30.6 percent of births, up 23.2 percent from 1992 to 2007

U.P.-wide - 34.3 percent of births, up 32 percent from 1992 to 2007

State-wide - 38.1 percent of births, up 9.7 percent from 1992 to 2007

Birth to women with less than 12 years education

Delta - 9.4 percent of births, down 38.1 percent from 1992 to 2007

Schoolcraft - 40 percent of births, up 29.2 percent from 1992 to 2007

Menominee - 16.1 percent of births, up 28.5 percent from 1992 to 2007

U.P.-wide - 10.3 percent of births, down 19.9 percent from 1992 to 2007

State-wide - 16.7 percent of births, down 15 percent from 1992 to 2007

Low-birth weight babies

Delta - 8 percent of births, up 51.5 percent from 1992 to 2007

Schoolcraft - 8.9 percent of births, up 141.6 percent from 1992 to 2007

Menominee - 6.8 percent of births, up 38.1 percent from 1992 to 2007

U.P.-wide - 6.2 percent of births, up 27.1 percent from 1992 to 2007

State-wide - 8.4 percent of births, up 9.8 percent from 1992 to 2007

Pre-term births

Delta - 8.4 percent of births, up 5.1 percent from 1992 to 2007

Schoolcraft - 8.9 percent of births, up 15.6 percent from 1992 to 2007

Menominee - 3.9 percent of births, down 48.4 percent from 1992 to 2007

U.P.-wide - 7.7 percent of births, down 4.3 percent from 1992 to 2007

State-wide - 9.9 percent of births, down 9.2 percent from 1992 to 2007

The study reported six improving trends state-wide, including:

Smoking during pregnancy declined 34 percent - from 21.3 to 14.1 percent of births

Births to teens declined 26.2 percent - from 13.2 to 9.8 percent

l Repeat births to teens declined 28.7 percent - from 26.1 to 18.6 percent

Births to women with less than 12 years education: declined 15 percent - from 19.8 to 16.8 percent

Women who received late or no prenatal care: declined 15.1 percent - from 3.8 to 3.3 percent

Pre-term births: declined 9.2 percent - from 10.9 to 9.9 percent

And two worsening trends state-wide, including:

Non-marital births are up 9.7 percent (base year 1993-95) - from 34.8 to 38.1 percent

Low birth-weight babies are up 9.8 percent - from 7.6 to 8.4 percent

Roughly two of five Michigan women giving birth in 2007 qualified for Medicaid. Uninsured pregnant women with household income below 185 percent of the federal poverty level are eligible for Medicaid.

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Audrey LaFave, (906) 786-2021, ext. 145, alafave@dailypress.net