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- Title
THE RELATION OF AGE TO LOW BIRTH WEIGHT RATES AMONG FOREIGN-BORN BLACK MOTHERS: A POPULATION-BASED EXPLORATORY STUDY.
- Authors
Deal, Stephanie B.; Bennett, Amanda C.; Rankin, Kristin M.; Collins, Jr., James W.
- Abstract
Background: In stark contrast to the J or Ushaped relationship between age and low birth weight rates (< 2500g) seen among non-Latino White and Mexican American mothers, low birth weight rates among US-born Blacks are lowest in their teens and rise with increasing age (ie, weathering). The agerelated pattern of low birth weight rates among foreign-born Black mothers is unknown. Objective: To determine the relationship between age and low birth weight rates among foreign-born Black mothers. Design: Stratified analyses were performed on the 2003–2004 National Center for Health Statistics vital record datasets of foreign-born Black mothers. Maternal age was categorized into six subgroups. Potential confounding variables examined included marital status, parity, and prenatal care usage. Results: Foreign-born Black mothers (N=143,235) demonstrated a J/U-shaped agerelated pattern of low birth weight rates with the lowest rates observed among those in their twenties and early thirties. The subgroups of 15–19 and 35–39 year old mothers had low birth weight rates of 12.0% and 11.4% compared to 9.1 % for 25–29 year old mothers; RR=1.31 (1.22–1.42) and 1.25 (1.20–1.31), respectively. The J/Ushaped age-related pattern persisted independent of marital status, parity and prenatal care usage. Conclusions: Foreign-born black mothers do not exhibit a weathering pattern of rising low birth weight rates with advancing age regardless of traditional individual-level risk factors. Further research into the age-related pattern of birth outcome among impoverished foreignborn Black mothers is warranted.
- Subjects
UNITED States; LOW birth weight; MATERNAL age; PARITY (Obstetrics); WOMEN immigrants; AFRICAN American mothers; PRENATAL care
- Publication
Ethnicity & Disease, 2014, Vol 24, Issue 4, p413
- ISSN
1049-510X
- Publication type
Article