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Temporal trends in preterm birth phenotypes by plurality: Black–White disparity over half a century

Journal of Perinatology volume 41, pages 204–211 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective

To examine trends in rates of preterm birth by race and plurality; to evaluate the association between race, plurality, and phenotypes of preterm birth.

Study design

Temporal trends analyses for preterm birth by race and plurality were performed for the years 1971–2018. Adjusted logistic regression models were utilized to evaluate the association between race, plurality, and phenotypes of preterm birth.

Results

We observed that 1105,266 (0.7%), 1901,604 (1.2%), and 14,769,746 (9.3%) births belonged to extreme preterm, very preterm, and moderate-to-late preterm categories, respectively. We also observed that the risk of extreme preterm (RR: 2.69, 95% CI: 2.642–2.75) was highest for Black mothers as compared to White mothers.

Conclusion

Over the study period, preterm births disproportionately impacted Black mothers as well as pregnancies of higher plurality. With the persistence of racial disparities and growing trend of delayed childbearing and multiple pregnancies, targeted intervention is necessitated toward these vulnerable subgroups.

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Fig. 1: Trends in incidence of preterm birth by plurality and race—1971–2018.

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Acknowledgements

The corresponding author had full access to all the data and had final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center of Excellence in Health Equity, Training, and Research, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

    Deepa Dongarwar & Hamisu M. Salihu

  2. McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX, USA

    Danyal Tahseen

  3. Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    Liye Wang

  4. Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA

    Muktar H. Aliyu

  5. Department of Family Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

    Hamisu M. Salihu

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  1. Deepa Dongarwar
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  5. Hamisu M. Salihu
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Contributions

DD and HMS designed, planned, and conducted the study. DD and LW analyzed the data. All authors contributed to manuscript writing, revision, and approval of the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Deepa Dongarwar.

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Dongarwar, D., Tahseen, D., Wang, L. et al. Temporal trends in preterm birth phenotypes by plurality: Black–White disparity over half a century. J Perinatol 41, 204–211 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-020-00912-8

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