The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) released preliminary mortality statistics for 1998. According to the report, "rates for AIDS deaths, homicide, and teen births all dropped again in 1998, but the U.S. infant mortality rate leveled off after years of decline." However, the report also finds that HIV remains the leading cause of death among African-American men ages 25-44 and the third leading cause of death among African-American women in the same age group.