The Journal of Pediatrics
Volume 155, Issue 4 , Pages 482-487.e1 , October 2009

From Paradox to Disparity: Trends in Neonatal Death in Very Low Birth Weight non-Hispanic Black and White Infants, 1989-2004

  • Tim A. Bruckner, PhD, MPH

      Affiliations

    • Program in Public Health, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA
    • Corresponding Author InformationReprint requests: Tim A. Bruckner, Program in Public Health, University of California, Irvine, 101 Theory, Suite 250, Irvine, CA 92697.
  • ,
  • Katherine B. Saxton, MPH

      Affiliations

    • School of Public Health, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
  • ,
  • Elizabeth Anderson, MPH

      Affiliations

    • School of Public Health, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
  • ,
  • Sidra Goldman, MPH

      Affiliations

    • School of Public Health, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
  • ,
  • Jeffrey B. Gould, MD, MPH

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

Received 11 October 2008 ,Revised 24 March 2009 ,Accepted 17 April 2009.

References 

  1. Mathews TJ, MacDorman MF. Infant mortality statistics from the 2004 period linked birth/infant death data set. Natl Vital Stat Rep. 2007;55:1–32
  2. Carmichael SL, Iyasu S, Hatfield-Timajchy K. Cause-specific trends in neonatal mortality among black and white infants, United States, 1980-1995. Matern Child Health J. 1998;2:67–76
  3. Iams JD, Romero R, Culhane JF, Goldenberg RL. Primary, secondary, and tertiary interventions to reduce the morbidity and mortality of preterm birth. Lancet. 2008;371:164–175
  4. Willinger M, Hoffman HJ, Wu KT, Hou JR, Kessler RC, Ward SL, et al. Factors associated with the transition to nonprone sleep positions of infants in the United States: the National Infant Sleep Position Study. JAMA. 1998;280:329–335
  5. Mathews TJ, MacDorman MF, Menacker F. Infant mortality statistics from the 1999 period linked birth/infant death data set. Natl Vital Stat Rep. 2002;50:1–28
  6. Racial/ethnic disparities in neonatal mortality—United States, 1989-2001. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2004;53:655–658
  7. Infant mortality and low birth weight among black and white infants—United States, 1980-2000. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2002;51:589–592
  8. Schempf AH, Branum AM, Lukacs SL, Schoendorf KC. The contribution of preterm birth to the black-white infant mortality gap, 1990 and 2000. Am J Public Health. 2007;97:1255–1260
  9. North AF, MacDonald HM. Why are neonatal mortality rates lower in small black infants than in white infants in similar birth weight?. J Pediatr. 1977;90:809–810
  10. Wilcox A, Russell I. Why small black infants have a lower mortality rate than small white infants: the case for population-specific standards for birth weight. J Pediatr. 1990;116:7–10
  11. Mittendorf R, Williams MA, Kennedy JL, Berry RE, Herschel M, Aronson MP, et al. A hypothesis to explain paradoxical racial differences in neonatal mortality. Am J Prev Med. 1993;9:327–330
  12. Sappenfield WM, Buehler JW, Binkin NJ, Hogue CJ, Strauss LT, Smith JC. Differences in neonatal and postneonatal mortality by race, birth weight, and gestational age. Public Health Rep. 1987;102:182–192
  13. Wilcox AJ. On the importance—and the unimportance—of birthweight. Int J Epidemiol. 2001;30:1233–1241
  14. Alexander GR, Kogan M, Bader D, Carlo W, Allen M, Mor J. US birth weight/gestational age-specific neonatal mortality: 1995-1997 rates for whites, Hispanics, and blacks. Pediatrics. 2003;111:e61–e66
  15. Frisbie WP, Song S-E, Powers DA, Street JA. The increasing racial disparity in infant mortality: respiratory distress syndrome and other causes. Demography. 2004;41:773–800
  16. Ranganathan D, Wall S, Khoshnood B, Singh JK, Lee KS. Racial differences in respiratory-related neonatal mortality among very low birth weight infants. J Pediatr. 2000;136:454–459
  17. Carmichael SL, Iyasu S. Changes in the black-white infant mortality gap from 1983 to 1991 in the United States. Am J Prev Med. 1998;15:220–227
  18. Luke B, Brown MB. The changing risk of infant mortality by gestation, plurality, and race: 1989-1991 versus 1999-2001. Pediatrics. 2006;118:2488–2497
  19. Hamvas A, Wise PH, Yang RK, Wampler NS, Noguchi A, Maurer MM, et al. The influence of the wider use of surfactant therapy on neonatal mortality among blacks and whites. N Engl J Med. 1996;334:1635–1641
  20. Hogue CJ, Buehler JW, Strauss LT, Smith JC. Overview of the National Infant Mortality Surveillance (NIMS) project: design, methods, results. Public Health Rep. 1987;102:126–138
  21. California Department of Health Services Center for Health Statistics. Linked Birth and Infant Death Cohort File, 1989-2001. Sacramento, CA: California Department of Health Services; 2004;
  22. Braveman PA, Egerter SA, Cubbin C, Marchi KS. An approach to studying social disparities in health and health care. Am J Public Health. 2004;94:2139–2148
  23. Yuan H, Platt RW, Morin L, Joseph KS, Kramer MS. Fetal deaths in the United States, 1997 versus 1991. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2005;193:489–495
  24. Cifuentes J, Bronstein J, Phibbs CS, Phibbs RH, Schmitt SK, Carlo WA. Mortality in low birth weight infants according to level of neonatal care at hospital of birth. Pediatrics. 2002;109:745–751
  25. Oken E, Kleinman KP, Rich-Edwards J, Gillman MW. A nearly continuous measure of birth weight for gestational age using a United States national reference. BMC Pediatr. 2003;3:6
  26. Link BG, Phelan J. Social conditions as fundamental causes of disease. J Health Soc Behav. 1995;Special issue:80–94
  27. Catalano R, Hansen HT, Hartig T. The ecological effect of unemployment on the incidence of very low birthweight in Norway and Sweden. J Health Soc Behav. 1999;40:422–428
  28. Brett KM, Schoendorf KC, Kiely JL. Differences between black and white women in the use of prenatal care technologies. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1994;170:41–46
  29. Grady SC. Racial disparities in low birthweight and the contribution of residential segregation: a multilevel analysis. Soc Sci Med. 2006;63:3013–3029
  30. Bell JF, Zimmerman FJ, Almgren GR, Mayer JD, Huebner CE. Birth outcomes among urban African-American women: a multilevel analysis of the role of racial residential segregation. Soc Sci Med. 2006;63:3030–3045
  31. O'Campo P, Xue X, Wang MC, Caughy M. Neighborhood risk factors for low birthweight in Baltimore: a multilevel analysis. Am J Public Health. 1997;87:1113–1118
  32. Osypuk TL, Acevedo-Garcia D. Are racial disparities in preterm birth larger in hypersegregated areas?. Am J Epidemiol. 2008;167:1295–1304
  33. Dominguez TP. Race, racism, and racial disparities in adverse birth outcomes. Clin Obstet Gynecol. 2008;51:360–370
  34. Wise PH. The anatomy of a disparity in infant mortality. Ann Rev Public Health. 2003;24:341–362
  35. Gisselmann MD, Hemstrom O. The contribution of maternal working conditions to socio-economic inequalities in birth outcome. Soc Sci Med. 2008;66:1297–1309
  36. Fiscella K. Racial disparity in infant and maternal mortality: confluence of infection, and microvascular dysfunction. Matern Child Health J. 2004;8:45–54
  37. Guaschino S, De Seta F, Piccoli M, Maso G, Alberico S. Aetiology of preterm labour: bacterial vaginosis. BJOG. 2006;113(Suppl 3):46–51
  38. US Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People 2010: Understanding and Improving Health. 2nd edition. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office; 2000;

 Supported by a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (T-32 HS-00086-09) within the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, and a Title V block grant (under Contract 05-45195) from the California Department of Public Health, Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health Program. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

PII: S0022-3476(09)00441-7

doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2009.04.038

The Journal of Pediatrics
Volume 155, Issue 4 , Pages 482-487.e1 , October 2009