scholarly journals Retrospective cohort study of the association between maternal employment precarity and infant low birth weight in women in the USA

BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. e029584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Divya Patil ◽  
Daniel A Enquobahrie ◽  
Trevor Peckham ◽  
Noah Seixas ◽  
Anjum Hajat
Keyword(s):  
Birth Weight ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Low Birth Weight ◽  
Maternal Employment ◽  
Bargaining Unit ◽  
Longitudinal Survey ◽  
National Longitudinal Survey ◽  
High Employment ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Infant Low Birth Weight

ObjectivesTo investigate the association between maternal employment precarity and infant low birth weight (LBW), and to assess if this association differs by race/ethnicity.MethodsData were collected from 2871 women enrolled in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Children and Young Adult Cohort. Employment precarity was evaluated using a summary variable that combined several employment attributes: availability of employer-sponsored insurance, income, long shifts, non-daytime shifts, availability of employer sponsored training or educational benefits and membership in a union or collective bargaining unit. Employment precarity scores (a sum of the number of negative employment attributes) were categorised into low (0–2), medium (3) and high (4-6). LBW was defined as weight less than 2500 g at birth. Modified Poisson models were fit to calculate risk ratios and 95% CIs and adjusted for maternal age, race/ethnicity, educational attainment, nativity, prepregnancy body mass index, alcohol consumption, smoking during pregnancy and infant year of birth. We assessed effect modification by maternal race/ethnicity using a composite exposure-race variable.ResultsWomen with high employment precarity had higher risk of a LBW delivery compared with women with low employment precarity (RR: 1.48, 95% CI: 1.11 to 1.98). Compared to non-Hispanic/non-black women with low employment precarity, non-Hispanic black women (RR: 2.68; 95% CI: 1.72 to 4.15), Hispanic women (RR: 2.53; 95% CI: 1.54 to 4.16) and non-Hispanic/non-black women (RR: 1.46; 95% CI: 0.98 to 2.16) with high employment precarity had higher risk of LBW.ConclusionsWe observed higher risk of LBW in pregnancies of women with high employment precarity; this association was stronger among black and Hispanic mothers compared to non-Hispanic/non-black women. Findings of this study can be used to inform antenatal care and identify workplace policies to better support women who work during pregnancy.

scholarly journals Mass incarceration and public health: the association between black jail incarceration and adverse birth outcomes among black women in Louisiana

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Dyer ◽  
Rachel Hardeman ◽  
Dovile Vilda ◽  
Katherine Theall ◽  
Maeve Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Birth Weight ◽  
Preterm Birth ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Low Birth Weight ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
Population Health ◽  
Birth Outcomes ◽  
Mass Incarceration ◽  
Interquartile Range ◽  
Adverse Birth Outcomes

Abstract Background A growing body of evidence is beginning to highlight how mass incarceration shapes inequalities in population health. Non-Hispanic blacks are disproportionately affected by incarceration and criminal law enforcement, an enduring legacy of a racially-biased criminal justice system with broad health implications for black families and communities. Louisiana has consistently maintained one of the highest rates of black incarceration in the nation. Concurrently, large racial disparities in population health persist. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of all births among non-Hispanic black women in Louisiana in 2014 to identify associations between parish-level (county equivalent) prevalence of jail incarceration within the black population and adverse birth outcomes (N = 23,954). We fit a log-Poisson model with generalized estimating equations to approximate the relative risk of preterm birth and low birth weight associated with an interquartile range increase in incarceration, controlling for confounders. In sensitivity analyses, we additionally adjusted for the parish-level index crime prevalence and analyzed regression models wherein white incarceration was used to predict the risk of adverse birth outcomes in order to quantify the degree to which mass incarceration may harm health above and beyond living in a high crime area. Results There was a significant 3% higher risk of preterm birth among black women associated with an interquartile range increase in the parish-level incarceration prevalence of black individuals, independent of other factors. Adjusting for the prevalence of index crimes did not substantively change the results of the models. Conclusion Due to the positive significant associations between the prevalence of black individuals incarcerated in Louisiana jails and estimated risk of preterm birth, mass incarceration may be an underlying cause of the persistent inequities in reproductive health outcomes experienced by black women in Louisiana. Not only are there economic and social impacts stemming from mass incarceration, but there may also be implications for population health and health inequities, including the persistence of racial disparities in preterm birth and low birth weight.

scholarly journals Longitudinal Survey of Microbiota in Hospitalized Preterm Very-Low-Birth-Weight Infants

2016 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 292-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aloka L. Patel ◽  
Ece A. Mutlu ◽  
Yan Sun ◽  
Lars Koenig ◽  
Stefan Green ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Birth Weight ◽  
Low Birth Weight ◽  
Very Low Birth Weight ◽  
Longitudinal Survey ◽  
Low Birth Weight Infants

scholarly journals Maternal Employment and Parent-Child Relationships in Single-Parent Families of Low-Birth-Weight Preschoolers

1998 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 114-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
JoAnne M. Youngblut ◽  
Lynn T. Singer ◽  
Elizabeth A. Madigan ◽  
Leslie A. Swegart ◽  
Willard L. Rodgers
Keyword(s):  
Birth Weight ◽  
Low Birth Weight ◽  
Maternal Employment ◽  
Single Parent ◽  
Single Parent Families ◽  
Parent Child Relationships ◽  
Parent Child

LBW IN BLACK PREGNANT WOMEN

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 93 (6) ◽  
pp. A48-A48
Keyword(s):  
Birth Weight ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Low Birth Weight ◽  
Preterm Labor ◽  
Very Low Birth Weight ◽  
Hypertensive Disorder ◽  
Premature Rupture Of Membranes ◽  
Premature Rupture ◽  
Effective Prevention ◽  
Increased Risk

...over 90 percent of the excess risk of very low birth weight among black infants was related to an increased risk among their mothers (risk ratio, 2.5 to 3.5) of chorioamnionitis or premature rupture of membranes (accounting for 38 percent of the excess), hypertensive disorder (12 percent), hemorrhage (10 percent), idiopathic preterm labor (21 percent), or a combination of these maternal conditions (14 percent). It is striking that the same conditions were related to similar percentages of the cases of very low birth weight among white infants. This finding deserves greater emphasis, since it suggests that effective prevention or treatment of any of these conditions in black women would be likely to improve outcomes overall.

scholarly journals Very Low Birth Weight and Perinatal Periods of Risk: Disparities in St. Louis

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela Xaverius ◽  
Joanne Salas ◽  
Deborah Kiel ◽  
Candice Woolfolk
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Birth Weight ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Prenatal Care ◽  
Low Birth Weight ◽  
Very Low Birth Weight ◽  
Gestational Hypertension ◽  
Population Attributable Risk ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Perinatal Periods Of Risk

Objective. Very low birth weight (VLBW) is a significant issue in St. Louis, Missouri. Our study evaluated risk factors associated with VLBW in this predominantly urban community.Methods. From 2000 to 2009, birth and fetal death certificates were evaluated (n=160, 189), and mortality rates were calculated for perinatal periods of risk. The Kitagawa method was used to explore fetoinfant mortality rates (FIMR) in terms of birth weight distribution and birthweight specific mortality. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the magnitude of association of selected risk factors with VLBW.Results. VLBW contributes to 50% of the excess FIMR in St. Louis City and County. The highest proportion of VLBW can be attributed to black maternal race (40.6%) in St. Louis City, inadequate prenatal care (19.8%), and gestational hypertension (12.0%) among black women. Medicaid was found to have a protective effect for VLBW among black women (population attributable risk (PAR) = −14.5).Discussion. Interventions targeting the health of women before and during conception may be most successful at reducing the disparities in VLBW in this population. Interventions geared towards smoking cessation and improvements in Medicaid and prenatal care access for black mothers and St. Louis City residents can greatly reduce VLBW rates.

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