The Washington State Intergenerational Study of Birth Outcomes: methodology and some comparisons of maternal birthweight and infant birthweight and gestation in four ethnic groups.
A statewide database of vital records and hospital discharge summaries of obstetric and neonatal admissions for Washington State in 1987-95 was linked to the birth certificates of mothers born in the state. A total of 46,000 births to mothers of four racial/ethnic groups were studied: Whites, African-Americans, Native Americans and Hispanics. For all four groups inverse associations were found between maternal birthweight and infant low birthweight and preterm birth. The birthweight distribution of African-American mothers was displaced markedly downwards compared with the Whites; this difference in maternal birthweight is offered as a partial explanation of the greater prevalence of suboptimal pregnancy outcomes in the former. In contrast, the maternal birthweight distributions of Whites, Native Americans and Hispanics are similar; differences in pregnancy outcomes are probably more related to maternal preconceptional and postnatal factors in these groups as well as differences in pregnancy-related factors. Mothers' birthweight may have clinical value in identifying high-risk pregnancies.
Emanuel
I
I
Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle 98195-7236, USA.
Leisenring
W
W
Williams
M A
MA
Kimpo
C
C
Estee
S
S
O'Brien
W
W
Hale
C B
CB
D000328:Adult; D001724:Birth Weight; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome / Q000208:ethnology*; D044469:Racial Groups; D012307:Risk Factors; D014798:Vital Statistics; D014861:Washington / Q000453:epidemiology