The state's infant mortality rate swings widely from ZIP code to ZIP code, according to a Salt Lake Tribune review of data calculated by the state health department, and health officials don't know why.
From 2004 to 2006, the state rate was 4.9 deaths per 1,000 live births. Logan had the best rate at two, putting that northern Utah city on par with Singapore, which has the world's lowest infant mortality rate.
The rate was the highest in Salt Lake City's 84103 and 84114 neighborhoods, which include the Avenues and parts of downtown, at 14.8. That's close to death rates in Jordan and Jamaica and is higher than rates in some developing countries, according to the Central Intelligence Agency's world fact book.
Health experts cautioned against making too much of the differences since the numbers of actual deaths are very small - there were 10 deaths in Logan and 13 in the Avenues in the time period - and could be skewed by a few deaths.
They also offered possible explanations: Women at risk for having pregnancy complications - those who are poor, less educated and are older than 40 or younger than 20 - tend to live in the same neighborhoods.
But that doesn't explain the Avenues, where residents make more money and are better educated than the average Utahn.
It's counterintuitive, said Lois Bloebaum, manager of the state's Reproductive Health Program.
"There must be pockets of residents that have some kind of a characteristic that is contributing to a higher infant mortality, whether that's substance abuse [or something else]," she said. "I just can't tell you because we haven't done that specific of an analysis."
Michael Varner, a Salt Lake City doctor who is on a state committee that reviews infant deaths, said he plans to ask the state whether it is worth investigating deaths by ZIP code to "see if there is anything that might suggest an environmental exposure."
Other health department data have shown women who lived near contaminated Superfund sites such as Hill Air Force Base, the Rose Park sludge pit and Midvale slag between 1989 and 2004 had a higher risk of having a baby weighing less than 5.5 pounds at birth, which puts babies at risk of dying.
The disparities by ZIP code could also be random. Keith Horwood, medical director of the Central City Community Health Center in downtown Salt Lake City, which mainly serves the uninsured, recalls caring for a family whose baby died a couple of days after birth. The infant was diagnosed during pregnancy with a severe birth defect that left her without a brain.
"The parents knew this was going to happen but said, 'We want to get to know her before she goes,' " Horwood recalled. "Standing on the sidelines you just go, I don't know if I would have the [same] toughness."
The ZIP code data also reveals some success stories. Downtown Ogden had one of the highest infant mortality rates in the state a decade ago. Now, it's below the state average.
Lisa Nichols, executive director of the Midtown Community Clinic, which serves low-income residents, takes some of the credit. The clinic hounds women who have recently been told they are pregnant to make prenatal appointments. And it assigns "labor friends" to help explain the medical system and go to doctor appointments and the delivery room with new immigrants and women with poor English skills or little social support.
"Even though [many clinic patients] don't have insurance, we have pulled together community partnerships to make sure they get everything insured women would get," Nichols said.
Sonja Hammond hopes the state follows through and investigates. As president of Utah Share, a support group for parents who have lost infants or pregnancies, the Clinton woman said infant deaths are "trivialized."
"It seems like an infant loss isn't as tragic to the general population as an older child or a teenager. People don't understand why you're grieving because you didn't know the baby anyway. You haven't been able to make memories with them."
