INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Indiana's former health commissioner says it's too early to celebrate even though the state's infant mortality rate fell to its lowest recorded level in 2012.

Dr. William VanNess was health commissioner until he stepped down last month. He told hundreds of people who gathered Thursday for an infant mortality summit that while Indiana had an infant mortality rate of 6.7 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2012 that drop appears to be an anomaly.

VanNess says unofficial figures suggest Indiana's infant mortality rate increased last year.

Current state health commissioner Dr. Jerome Adams says some infant deaths are easily preventable. He says getting more pregnant women to quit smoking, educating mothers about safe sleeping positions for their newborns and increasing the number of mothers who breast-feed can cut infant deaths.