Hayes quoted in BDN report on infant mortality in Maine
Marie Hayes, a psychology professor who researches opiate-exposed infants at the University of Maine, was quoted in a Bangor Daily News report on addressing infant mortality in Maine. Maine is the only state to see a higher infant mortality rate in this decade (2005 to 2014) than the previous decade (1995 to 2004), according to the article. While reasons for Maine’s high infant mortality rate are not entirely clear, there are some factors that stick out: smoking while pregnant, unsafe sleeping environments (when infants share a bed with parents), substance use, home births and access to prenatal care, the article states. Poverty can also be a factor, according to Hayes. “Poverty causes people to have such a high level of stress. Domestic instability or violence, irregular access to nutritious food, the stress of not being able to go to the doctor’s as much as you want all lead to infant mortality,” Hayes said.