Ethnic Differences in Birth Outcomes: The Search for Answers Continues
Greg R. Alexander MPH, ScD
Greg Alexander is a Professor at the School of Public Health, Department of Maternal and Child Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama; and Michael Kogan is at the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Hyattsville, Maryland.
Search for more papers by this authorMichael D. Kogan PhD
Greg Alexander is a Professor at the School of Public Health, Department of Maternal and Child Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama; and Michael Kogan is at the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Hyattsville, Maryland.
Search for more papers by this authorGreg R. Alexander MPH, ScD
Greg Alexander is a Professor at the School of Public Health, Department of Maternal and Child Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama; and Michael Kogan is at the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Hyattsville, Maryland.
Search for more papers by this authorMichael D. Kogan PhD
Greg Alexander is a Professor at the School of Public Health, Department of Maternal and Child Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama; and Michael Kogan is at the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Hyattsville, Maryland.
Search for more papers by this authorDr. Greg R. Alexander, Professor, Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 320 Ryals Building, 1665 University Boulevard, Birmingham, AL 35294–0022.\cW 1998 Blackwell Science, Inc.
This work was supported in part by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (MCJ-9040), Rockville, Maryland.
References
- 1 Meyer AW. Fields, Graphs and Other Data on Fetal Growth. Contributions to Embryology. No. 4, Publication No. 222. Washington, DC: Carnegie Institute, 1915.
- 2 Anderson NA, Brown EW, Lyon RA.Causes of prematurity. Influences of race and sex on duration of gestation and weight at birth. Am J Dis Child 1943; 65: 523 534.
- 3 Papiernik E, Cohen H, Richard A, et al.Ethnic differences in duration of pregnancy. Ann Hum Biol 1986; 13: 259 265.
- 4 Shiono PH, Klebanoff MA, Graubard BI, et al.Birth weight among women of different ethnic groups. JAMA 1986; 255: 48 52.
- 5
Kessel SS,
Kleinman JC,
Koontz AM, et al.Racial differences in pregnancy outcomes.
Clin Perinatol1998; 15: 745 754.
10.1016/S0095-5108(18)30671-7 Google Scholar
- 6 Papiernik E, Alexander GR, Paneth N.Racial differences in pregnancy duration and its implications for perinatal care. Med Hypoth 1990; 33: 181 186.
- 7 Alexander GR & Cornely DA.Racial disparities in pregnancy outcomes: The role of prenatal care utilization and maternal risk status. Am J Prevent Med 1987; 3: 254 261.
- 8 Wise PH, First LR, Lamb GA, et al.Infant mortality increase despite high access to tertiary care: An evolving relationship among infant mortality, health care, and socioeconomic change. Pediatrics 1988; 81: 542 548.
- 9 Gould JB, Davey B, LeRoy S.Socioeconomic differentials and neonatal mortality: Racial comparison of California singletons. Pediatrics 1989; 83: 181 186.
- 10 Langkamp DL, Foye HR, Roghmann KJ.Does limited access to NICU services account for higher neonatal mortality rates among blacks? Am J Perinatol1990; 7: 227 231.
- 11 Fichtner RR, Sullivan KM, Zyrkowski CL, Trowbridge FL.Racial/ethnic differences in smoking, other risk factors, and low birth weight among low-income pregnant women, 1978–1988. MMWR CDC Surv Summ 1990; 39: 13 21.
- 12 Hulsey TC, Levkoff A, Alexander GR, Tompkins ME.Differences in black and white infant birth weights: The role of maternal demographic factors and medical complications of pregnancy. South Med J 1991; 84: 443 446.
- 13 Krieger N, Rowley DL, Herman AA, et al.Racism, sexism and social class: Implications for studies of health disease and well-being. Am J Prevent Med 1993; supp 9 (6): 82 122.
- 14 Shiono PH, Rauh VA, Park M, et al.Ethnic differences in birthweight: The role of life style and other factors. Am J Public Health 1997; 87: 787 793.
- 15 Geronimus AT.The weathering hypothesis and the health of African-American women and infants: Evidence and speculation. Ethnicity Dis 1992; 2: 207 221.
- 16 Emanuel I, Hale CB, Berg CJ.Poor birth outcomes of American black women: An alternative explanation. J Public Health Policy 1989; Autumn: 299 308.
- 17 Kaufman JS, Cooper RS, McGee DL.Socioeconomic status and health in blacks and whites: The problem of residual confounding and the resiliency of race. Epidemiology 1997; 8: 621 628.
- 18 Guyer B, Martin JA, MacDorman MF, et al.Annual summary of vital statistics—1996. Pediatrics 1997; 100: 905 918.
- 19 National Center for Health Statistics. Public Use Data File Documentation. Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set: 1995 Period Data. Hyattsville, MD: Author, 1997.
- 20 Kieffer EC, Alexander GR, Mor JM.Pregnancy outcomes of Pacific Islanders residing in Hawaii. Am J Epidemiol 1995; 141: 674 679.
- 21 Baruffi G, Fuddy LJ, Onaka AT, et al.Temporal trends in maternal characteristics and pregnancy outcomes: Their relevance to the provision of health services. Hawaii Med J 1997; 56: 149 153.
- 22
Hess JH.American Academy of Pediatrics—Proceedings. Fifth Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
J Pediatr
1936; 8: 104 121.
10.1016/S0022-3476(36)80216-9 Google Scholar
- 23 Alexander GR, Himes JH, Kaufman RB, et al.A United States national reference for fetal growth. Obstet Gynecol 1996; 87: 163 168.
- 24 Alexander GR, De Caunes F, Hulsey TC, et al.Ethnic variation in postnatal assessments of gestational age: A reappraisal. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol 1992; 6: 423 433.
- 25 Allen MC & Alexander GR.Using gross motor milestones to identify very preterm infants at risk of cerebral palsy. Dev Med Child Neurol 1992; 34: 226 232.
- 26 Hulsey TC, Alexander GR, Robillard P-Y, et al.Hyaline membrane disease: The role of ethnicity and maternal characteristics. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1993; 168: 572 576.
- 27 Alexander GR, Hulsey TC, Robillard P-Y, et al.Determinants of meconium-stained amniotic fluid in term pregnancies. J Perinatol 1994; 14: 259 263.
- 28 Alexander GR, Baruffi G, Mor JM, et al.Multi-ethnic variations in the pregnancy outcomes of military dependents. Am J Public Health 1993; 83: 1721 1725.
- 29 Alexander GR, Baruffi G, Mor JM, Kieffer EC.Pregnancy outcomes among whites and Filipinos: A paradoxical birth weight-neonatal mortality relationship. Am J Hum Biol 1993; 5: 203 209.
- 30 Hulsey TC, Levkoff A, Alexander GR.Birth weights of infants of black and white mothers without pregnancy complications. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1991; 164: 1299 1302.
- 31 Holzman C, Paneth N, Fisher R.Rethinking the concept of risk factors for preterm birth: Antecedents, mediators and markers. Prenat Neonat Med 1998; 3: 47 52.
- 32 Goldenberg RL, Iams JD, Mercer BM, et al.The preterm prediction study: The value of new and standard risk factors in predicting early and all spontaneous preterm births. Am J Public Health 1998; 88: 233 238.
- 33 Holzman C & Paneth N.Preterm birth: From prediction to prevention. Am J Public Health 1998; 88: 183 184.
- 34 Alexander GR & Allen MC.Conceptualization, measurement and use of gestational age: I. Clinical and public health practice. J Perinatol 1996; 16: 53 59.
Citing Literature
