Review Article| Volume 41, ISSUE 4, P847-875, December 2014

Download started.

Ok

Conquering Racial Disparities in Perinatal Outcomes

Published:October 07, 2014DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clp.2014.08.008

      Keywords

      To read this article in full you will need to make a payment

      Purchase one-time access:

      Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online access
      One-time access price info
      • For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
      • For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'

      Subscribers receive full online access to your subscription and archive of back issues up to and including 2002.

      Content published before 2002 is available via pay-per-view purchase only.

      Subscribe:

      Subscribe to Clinics in Perinatology
      Already a print subscriber? Claim online access
      Already an online subscriber? Sign in
      Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect

      References

        • Barfield W.
        • D’Angelo D.
        • Moon R.
        • et al.
        CDC grand rounds: public health approaches to reducing US infant mortality.
        MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2013; 62: 625-628
      1. OECD. Health status: material and infant mortality. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development stat extracts. 2012. Available at: http://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?DataSetCode=HEALTH_STAT. Accessed February 27, 2014.

        • MacDorman M.F.
        • Rosenberg H.M.
        Trends in infant mortality by cause of death and other characteristics, 1960-1988.
        Natl Vital Stat Rep. 1993; 20: 1-49
        • Murphy S.L.
        • Xu J.Q.
        • Kochanek K.D.
        Deaths: final data for 2010.
        Natl Vital Stat Rep. 2013; 61 (Hyattsville (MD): National Center for Health Statistics): 1-117
        • Hoyert D.L.
        • Xu J.Q.
        Deaths: preliminary data for 2011.
        Natl Vital Stat Rep. 2012; 61 (Hyattsville (MD): National Center for Health Statistics): 1-51
        • Collins J.W.
        • David R.
        Racial disparity. Racial disparity in low birth weight and infant mortality.
        Clin Perinatol. 2009; 36: 63-73
        • Lafortune G.
        • van Gool K.
        • Biondi K.
        Health Status: Maternal and infant mortality.
        Organization for Econoic Cooperation and Development stat extracts. 2013; (Available at:) (Accessed February 27, 2014): 36-37
        • MacDorman M.F.
        • Mathews T.J.
        Behind international rankings of infant mortality: how the United States compares with Europe.
        National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville (MD)2009 (NCHS data brief, no 23)
        • March of Dimes
        • PMNCH
        • Save the Children
        • WHO
        Born too soon: the global action report on preterm birth.
        in: Howson C.P. Kinney M.V. Lawn J.E. World Health Organization, White Plains, New York2012 (Available at:) (Accessed March 4, 2014)
        • Lafortune G.
        • van Gool K.
        • Biondi K.
        Infant health: low birth weight.
        Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development stat extracts. 2013; (Available at:) (Accessed February 28, 2014): 38-39
      2. OECD. Health status: infant health. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development stat extracts. 2012. Available at: http://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?DataSetCode=HEALTH_STAT. Accessed February 27, 2014.

        • Mathews T.J.
        • MacDorman M.F.
        Infant mortality statistics from the 2010 period linked birth/infant death data set.
        Natl Vital Stat Rep. 2013; 62: 1-26
        • Hirai A.H.
        • Sappenfield W.M.
        • Kogan M.D.
        • et al.
        Contributors to excess infant mortality in the US south.
        Am J Prev Med. 2014; 46: 219-227
        • Menfield C.E.
        • Dawson J.
        Infant mortality in southern states: a bureaucratic nightmare.
        J Health Hum Serv Adm. 2008; 31: 385-402
        • Mathews T.J.
        • MacDorman M.F.
        • Menacker F.
        Infant mortality statistics from the 2000 period linked birth/infant death data set.
        Natl Vital Stat Rep. 2002; 50 (Hyattsville (MD): National Center for Health Statistics): 1-28
        • David R.J.
        • Collins J.W.
        Differing birth weight among infants of US-born blacks, African-born blacks, and US-born whites.
        N Engl J Med. 1997; 337: 1209-1214
        • Collins Jr., J.W.
        • Wu S.Y.
        • David R.J.
        Differing intergenerational birth weights among the descendants of US-born and foreign-born Whites and African Americans in Illinois.
        Am J Epidemiol. 2002; 155: 210-216
        • Collins Jr., J.W.
        • David R.J.
        Pregnancy outcome of Mexican-American women: the effect of generational residence in the United States.
        Ethn Dis. 2004; 14: 317-321
        • David R.
        • Collins Jr., J.
        Disparities in infant mortality: what's genetics got to do with it?.
        Am J Public Health. 2007; 97: 1191-1197
        • Schoendorf K.C.
        • Hogue C.J.
        • Kleinman J.C.
        • et al.
        Mortality among infants of black as compared with white college-educated parents.
        N Engl J Med. 1992; 326: 1522-1526
        • Murray J.L.
        • Bernfield M.
        The differential effect of prenatal care on the incidence of low birth weight among blacks and whites in a prepaid health care plan.
        N Engl J Med. 1988; 319: 1385-1391
        • Barfield W.D.
        • Wise P.H.
        • Rust F.P.
        • et al.
        Racial disparities in outcomes of military and civilian births in California.
        Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1996; 150: 1062-1067
        • Colen C.G.
        • Geronimus A.T.
        • Bound J.
        • et al.
        Maternal upward socioeconomic mobility and black-white disparities in infant birthweight.
        Am J Public Health. 2006; 96: 2032-2039
        • Lu M.C.
        • Halfon N.
        Racial and ethnic disparities in birth outcomes: a life-course perspective.
        Matern Child Health J. 2003; 7: 13-30
        • Jacob R.A.
        • Gretz D.M.
        • Taylor P.C.
        • et al.
        Moderate folate depletion increases plasma homocysteine and decreases lymphocyte DNA methylation in postmenopausal women.
        J Nutr. 1998; 128: 1204-1212
        • Scholl T.O.
        • Johnson W.G.
        Folic acid: influence on the outcome of pregnancy.
        Am J Clin Nutr. 2000; 71: 1295s-1303s
        • Hoyo C.
        • Murtha A.
        • Schildkraut J.
        • et al.
        Folic acid supplementation before and during pregnancy in the Newborn Epigenetics STudy (NEST).
        BMC Public Health. 2011; 11: 46
        • Catov J.M.
        • Bodnar L.M.
        • Ness R.B.
        • et al.
        Association of periconceptional multivitamin use and risk of preterm or small-for-gestational-age births.
        Am J Epidemiol. 2007; 166: 296-303
        • Burris H.H.
        • Mitchell A.A.
        • Werler M.M.
        Periconceptional multivitamin use and infant birth weight disparities.
        Ann Epidemiol. 2010; 20: 233-240
        • Haggarty P.
        • Hoad G.
        • Horgan G.W.
        • et al.
        DNA methyltransferase candidate polymorphisms, imprinting methylation, and birth outcome.
        PLoS One. 2013; 8: e68896
        • Azzi S.
        • Sas T.C.
        • Koudou Y.
        • et al.
        Degree of methylation of ZAC1 (PLAGL1) is associated with prenatal and post-natal growth in healthy infants of the EDEN mother child cohort.
        Epigenetics. 2013; 9: 338-345
        • Hughes D.
        • Chen L.
        When and what parents tell children about race: an examination of race-related socialization among African American families.
        Appl Dev Sci. 1997; 1: 200-214
        • White-Johnson R.L.
        • Ford K.R.
        • Sellers R.M.
        Parental racial socialization profiles: association with demographic factors, racial discrimination, childhood socialization, and racial identity.
        Cultur Divers Ethnic Minor Phycol. 2010; 16: 237-247
        • Geronimus A.T.
        Understanding and eliminating racial inequalities in women’s health in the United States: the role of the weathering conceptual framework.
        J Am Med Womens Assoc. 2001; 56 (149-50): 133-136
        • Clark R.
        • Anderson N.B.
        • Clark V.R.
        • et al.
        Racism as a stressor for African Americans. A biopsychosocial model.
        Am Psychol. 1999; 54: 805-816
        • Collins Jr., J.W.
        • David R.J.
        • Rankin K.M.
        • et al.
        Transgenerational effect of neighborhood poverty on low birth weight among African Americans in Cook County, Illinois.
        Am J Epidemiol. 2009; 169: 712-717
        • Franklin T.B.
        • Russig H.
        • Weiss I.C.
        • et al.
        Epigenetic transmission of the impact of early stress across generations.
        Biol Psychiatry. 2010; 68: 408-415
        • Pena C.J.
        • Neugut Y.D.
        • Champagne F.A.
        Developmental timing of the effects of maternal care on gene expression and epigenetic regulation of hormone receptor levels in female rats.
        Endocrinology. 2013; 154: 4340-4351
        • Dunn G.A.
        • Bale T.L.
        Maternal high-fat diet promotes body length increases and insulin insensitivity in second-generation mice.
        Endocrinology. 2009; 150: 4999-5009
        • Dunn G.A.
        • Bale T.L.
        Maternal high-fat diet effects on third-generation female body size via the paternal lineage.
        Endocrinology. 2011; 152: 2228-2236
        • Halfon N.
        • Larson K.
        • Lu M.
        • et al.
        Lifecourse health development: past, present and future.
        Matern Child Health J. 2014; 18: 344-365
        • Shonkoff J.P.
        • Richter L.
        • van der Gaag J.
        • et al.
        An integrated scientific framework for child survival and early childhood development.
        Pediatrics. 2012; 129: e460-e472
        • Hanson J.L.
        • Hair N.
        • Shen D.G.
        • et al.
        Family poverty affect the rate of human infant brain growth.
        PLoS One. 2013; 8: e80954
        • Garner A.S.
        • Shonkoff J.P.
        • Siegel B.S.
        • Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health
        • Committee on Early Childhood, Adoption, and Dependent Care
        • Section on Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics
        • et al.
        Early childhood adversity, toxic stress, and the role of the pediatrician: translating developmental science into lifelong health.
        Pediatrics. 2012; 129: e224-e231
        • Hart B.
        • Risley T.R.
        The early catastrophe: the 30 million word gap by age 3.
        American Educator. 2003; 27: 4-9
        • Kaplan J.B.
        • Bennett T.
        Use of race and ethnicity in biomedical publication.
        JAMA. 2003; 289: 2709-2716
        • Lorusso L.
        The justification of race in biological explanation.
        J Med Ethics. 2011; 37: 535-539
        • Acevedo-Garcia D.
        • Soobader M.
        • Berkman L.
        The differential effect of foreign born status on low birth weight by race/ethnicity and education.
        Pediatrics. 2005; 115: e20
        • Almond D.V.
        • Chay K.Y.
        • Greenstone M.
        Civil rights, the war on poverty, and black-white convergence in infant mortality in Mississippi.
        Center for Labor Economics, University of California, Berkeley (CA)2001
        • Dominguez T.P.
        • Dunkel-Schetter C.
        • Glynn L.M.
        • et al.
        Racial differences in birth outcomes: the role of general, pregnancy and racism stress.
        Health Psychol. 2008; 27: 194-203
        • Jones C.P.
        Levels of racism: a theoretic framework and a gardener's tale.
        Am J Public Health. 2000; 90: 1212-1215
        • Hilmers A.
        • Hilmers D.C.
        • Dave J.
        Neighborhood disparities in access to healthy foods and their effects on environmental justice.
        Am J Public Health. 2012; 102: 1644-1654
        • Barker D.
        Mothers, babies and disease in later life.
        British Medical Journal, London1994
        • Kuzawa C.
        Developmental origins of life history: growth, productivity and reproduction.
        Am J Human Biol. 2007; 19: 654-661
        • Kuzawa C.
        • Sweet E.
        Epigenetics and the embodiment of race: developmental origins of US racial disparities in cardiovascular health.
        Am J Human Biol. 2009; 21: 2-15
        • Kowaleski-Jones L.
        • Duncan G.J.
        Effects of participation in the WIC Program on birthweight: evidence from the national longitudinal survey of youth.
        Am J Public Health. 2002; 92: 799-804
        • Khanani I.
        • Elam A.S.
        • Hearn R.
        • et al.
        The impact of prenatal WIC participation on infant mortality and racial disparities.
        Am J Public Health. 2010; 100: S204-S209
        • Waldfogel J.
        • Craigie T.
        • Brooks-Gunn J.
        Fragile families and child well being.
        Future Child. 2010; 20: 113-131
        • McHale J.
        • Waller M.R.
        • Pearson J.
        Coparenting interventions for fragile families: what do we know and where do we need to go next?.
        Fam Process. 2012; 51: 284-306
        • Johnson M.D.
        Healthy marriage initiatives: on the need for empiricism in policy implementation.
        Am Psychol. 2012; 67: 296-308
        • Hawkins A.J.
        • Stanley S.M.
        • Cowan P.A.
        • et al.
        A more optimistic perspective on government-supported marriage and relationship education programs for lower income couples.
        Am Psychol. 2013; 68: 110-111
        • Johnson M.D.
        Optimistic or quixotic? More data on marriage and relationship education programs for lower income couples.
        Am Psychol. 2013; 68: 111-112
        • Hillis S.D.
        • Anda R.A.
        • Dube S.R.
        • et al.
        The protective effect of family strengths in childhood against adolescent pregnancy and its long-term psychosocial consequences.
        Perm J. 2010; 14: 18-27
        • National Research Council and Institute of Medicine
        From neurons to neighborhoods: the science of early childhood development.
        in: Committee on Integrating the Science of Early Childhood Development Shonkoff J.P. Phillips D.A. Board on Children, Youth and Families, Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. National Academy Press, Washington, DC2000
        • Campbell F.
        • Conti G.
        • Heckman J.
        • et al.
        Early childhood investments substantially boost adult health.
        Science. 2014; 343: 1478-1485
        • Walsemann K.
        • Geronimus A.T.
        • Gee G.
        Accumulating disadvantage over the life course: evidence from a longitudinal study investigating the relationship between educational advantage in youth and health in middle age.
        Res Aging. 2008; 30: 169-199https://doi.org/10.1177/0164027507311149
        • Karoly L.A.
        • Kilburn M.
        • Cannon J.
        Early childhood interventions: proven results, Future Promise.
        RAND, Santa Monica (CA)2005 (Available at:)
        • National Academy of Sciences
        • Committee on Early Childhood Care and Education Workforce
        • Board on Children, Youth and Families
        • Institute of Medicine and National Research Council of the National Academies
        The early childhood care and education workforce: challenges and opportunities: a workshop report.
        The National Academies Press, Washington, DC2012
        • Reynolds A.J.
        • Temple J.A.
        • White B.A.
        • et al.
        Age 26 cost-benefit analysis of the child-parent center early education program.
        Child Dev. 2011; 82: 379-404
        • Karoly L.A.
        Toward standardization of benefit-cost analyses of early childhood interventions.
        RAND, Santa Monica (CA)2011
      3. Karoly LA. Using benefit-cost analysis to inform early childhood care and education policy. Presented at The Early Childhood Care and Education Workforce: A Workshop. Washington, DC, February 28 and March 1, 2011.

        • Magnuson K.A.
        • Waldfogel J.
        Early childhood care and education: effects on ethnic and racial gaps in school readiness.
        Future Child. 2005; 15: 169-188
        • Shonkoff J.P.
        • Fisher P.A.
        Rethinking evidence-based practice and two-generation programs to create the future of early childhood policy.
        Dev Psychopathol. 2013; 25: 1635-1653
        • Hertzman C.
        • Boyce T.
        How experience gets under the skin to create gradients in developmental health.
        Annu Rev Public Health. 2010; 31: 329-347
        • Shonkoff J.P.
        • Boyce T.W.
        • McEwen B.S.
        Neuroscience, molecular biology, and the childhood roots of health disparities. Building a framework for health promotion and disease prevention.
        JAMA. 2009; 301: 2252-2259
        • Heisler E.J.
        The US infant mortality rate: international comparisons, underlying factors, and federal programs.
        Federation of American Scientists, 2012 (Available at:) (Accessed on March 13, 2014)
        • Geronimus A.T.
        The weathering hypothesis and the health of African American women and infants: evidence and speculations.
        Ethn Dis. 1992; 2: 207-221
        • Giscombe C.L.
        • Lobel M.
        Explaining disproportionately high rates of adverse birth outcomes among African Americans: the impact of stress, racism and related factors in pregnancy.
        Psychol Bull. 2005; 131: 662-683
        • Wightkin J.
        • Magnus J.H.
        • Farley T.A.
        • et al.
        Psychosocial predictors of being an underweight infant differ by racial group: a prospective study of Louisiana WIC program participants.
        Matern Child Health J. 2007; 11: 49-55
        • Lu M.C.
        • Kotelchuck M.
        • Hogan V.
        Closing the black-white gap in birth outcomes: a life-course approach.
        Ethn Dis. 2010; 20: 62-76
        • Hogan V.K.
        • Rowley D.
        • Bennett T.
        • et al.
        Life course, social determinants, and health inequities: toward a national plan for achieving health equity for African American infants–a concept paper.
        Matern Child Health J. 2012; 16: 1143-1150
        • Byrd W.M.
        • Clayton L.A.
        An American health dilemma.
        A medical history of African Americans and the problem of race: beginnings to 1900. vol. 1. Routledge, New York2000: 3