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Maternal nativity and risk of adverse perinatal outcomes among Black women residing in California, 2011–2017

Journal of Perinatology volume 41, pages 2736–2741 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective

Examine the risk of adverse perinatal outcomes among the United States (US)-born and foreign-born Black women in California.

Study design

The study comprised all singleton live births to Black women in California between 2011 and 2017. We defined maternal nativity as US-born or foreign-born. Using Poisson regression, we computed risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for three adverse perinatal outcomes: preterm birth, small for gestational age deliveries, and infant mortality.

Results

Rates of adverse perinatal outcomes were significantly higher among US-born Black women. In adjusted models, US-born Black women experienced an increased risk of preterm birth (RR 1.51, 95% CI 1.39, 1.65) and small for gestational age deliveries (RR 1.52, 95% CI 1.41, 1.64), compared to foreign-born Black women.

Conclusions

Future studies should consider experiences of racism across the life course when exploring heterogeneity in the risk of adverse perinatal outcomes by nativity among Black women in the US.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Safyer McKenzie-Sampson, Scott P. Oltman, Jacqueline M. Torres, Laura L. Jelliffe-Pawlowski & Brittany D. Chambers

  2. UCSF California Preterm Birth Initiative, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Safyer McKenzie-Sampson, Rebecca J. Baer, Bridgette E. Blebu, Deborah Karasek, Scott P. Oltman, Larry Rand, Elizabeth E. Rogers, Jacqueline M. Torres, Laura L. Jelliffe-Pawlowski, Karen A. Scott & Brittany D. Chambers

  3. Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Rebecca J. Baer, Bridgette E. Blebu, Deborah Karasek, Larry Rand & Karen A. Scott

  4. Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Rebecca J. Baer

  5. Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Matthew S. Pantell & Elizabeth E. Rogers

  6. Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Karen A. Scott

Authors
  1. Safyer McKenzie-Sampson
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Contributions

SMS, KAS, and BDC conceptualized the study, SMS and RJB performed statistical analyses, and all authors contributed to the manuscript preparation and revisions.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Safyer McKenzie-Sampson.

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Funding

This study was supported by funding from the California Preterm Birth Initiative. The funder had no role in the following: study conception/design, data analysis and interpretation, manuscript composition and the decision to submit for publication. This study was presented virtually as a poster presentation at the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Society for Pediatric and Perinatal Epidemiologic Research.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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McKenzie-Sampson, S., Baer, R.J., Blebu, B.E. et al. Maternal nativity and risk of adverse perinatal outcomes among Black women residing in California, 2011–2017. J Perinatol 41, 2736–2741 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-021-01149-9

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