Invited commentary: the socioeconomic causes of adverse birth outcomes.
Weathering-the cumulative burden of adverse psychosocial and economic circumstances on the bodies of minority women-has been repeatedly described in epidemiologic studies. The most common application has been the documentation of rapidly increasing risks of adverse birth outcomes as African-American women age. Previous work has been based largely on cross-sectional data that aggregate women across a variety of socioeconomic circumstances. When more specific information about women's life-course socioeconomic status is taken into account, however, heterogeneity in the weathering experience of African-American women becomes more readily apparent. Adverse birth outcome risk trajectories with advancing age for African-American women who reside in wealthier neighborhoods look much more similar to those of white women. The accompanying article by Love et al. (Am J Epidemiol. 2010;172(2):127-134) provides a more nuanced investigation of the social conditions that contribute to the weathering of African-American women and points to the critical role played by social and economic conditions over the life course in producing adverse birth outcome disparities.
Messer
Lynne C
LC
Center for Health Policy, Duke Global Health Institute, Durham, North Carolina, USA. lynne.messer@duke.edu
Kaufman
Jay S
JS
D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome / Q000208:ethnology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D012962:Sociology, Medical