title: Low-income African-American mothers' perception of exposure to racial discrimination and infant birth weight.
abstract: We performed a hospital-based case-control study of African-American mothers to explore the relation between a mother's perception of exposure to racial discrimination during pregnancy and very low birth weight. We administered a structured questionnaire to low-income mothers of very low birth weight (<1500 gm; N = 25) and non-low birth weight (>2500 gm; N = 60) infants. The unadjusted and adjusted odds ratio of very low birth weight for maternal exposure to racial discrimination were 1.9 (0.5-6.6) and 3.2 (0.9-11.3), respectively. We conclude that maternal perception of exposure to racial discrimination during pregnancy may be associated with very low birth weight in their infants.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neonatology, Children's Memorial Hospital, Cook County Hospital, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: David
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Symons
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Handler
authors.forename: S N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Wall
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dwyer
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D001290:Attitude; D001724:Birth Weight; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011203:Poverty; D011247:Pregnancy; D011287:Prejudice; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014505:Urban Population