title: Provider and patient influences on the formation of socioeconomic health behavior disparities among pregnant women.
abstract: Socially advantaged individuals are better positioned to benefit from advances in biomedicine, which frequently results in the emergence of social inequalities in health. I use survey and in-depth interviews with pregnant women and their health care providers from four Midwestern clinics in the United States, conducted in 2009 and 2010. I compare socioeconomic differences in intake of two new prenatal supplements: Vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acid. Although socioeconomic differences in omega-3 fatty acid supplementation emerged, there were no differences in the use of vitamin D. I argue that providers may have contributed to the prevention of a health disparity in vitamin D supplementation by implementing an aggressive uniform protocol. These results suggest that providers not only serve as a conduit for the dissemination of new biomedical information, the strength and uniformity of their recommendations have the potential to prevent or exacerbate socioeconomic differences in health behaviors.
authors: Population Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin, 305 E. 23rd Street, G1800 Austin, TX 78712, USA. ehernandez@prc.utexas.edu
authors: Elaine M
authors: EM
authors: Hernandez
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3 / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D015146:Midwestern United States; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011247:Pregnancy; D037841:Pregnant People / Q000523:psychology*; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3; D014807:Vitamin D