The children's death rate in Kansas hit a record low in 2014, the last year for which data is available.
As the Topeka Capital-Journal reports, Kansas had 410 child deaths in that year. That’s the lowest death rate in any year since the Kansas State Child Death Review Board began reviewing cases in 1994. Child abuse was responsible for 53 percent of the deaths.
Most of the deaths were attributed to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, which accounted for almost 300 of the cases. Sara Hortenstine is the executive director of the review board. She said, while she’s pleased to see the Kansas rate of SIDS decreasing, there is still much work to be done regarding safe sleep. She added that, “More than 80 percent of the infants who died from SIDS in 2014 had one or more factors that contributed to an unsafe sleep environment.”