Author:
Allgood Kristi L.,Mack Jasmine A.,Novak Nicole L.,Abdou Cleopatra M.,Fleischer Nancy L.,Needham Belinda L.
Abstract
Building on nascent literature examining the health-related effects of vicarious structural racism, we examined indirect exposure to the Flint Water Crisis (FWC) as a predictor of birth outcomes in Michigan communities outside of Flint, where residents were not directly exposed to lead-contaminated water. Using linear regression models, we analyzed records for all singleton live births in Michigan from 2013 to 2016, excluding Flint, to determine whether birth weight (BW), gestational age (GA), and size-for-gestational-age (SzGA) decreased among babies born to Black people, but not among babies born to White people, following the highly publicized January 2016 emergency declaration in Flint. In adjusted regression models, BW and SzGA were lower for babies born to both Black and White people in the 37 weeks following the emergency declaration compared to the same 37-week periods in the previous 3 years. There were no racial differences in the association of exposure to the emergency declaration with BW or SzGA. Among infants born to Black people, GA was 0.05 weeks lower in the 37-week period following the emergency declaration versus the same 37-week periods in the previous 3 years (95% CI: −0.09, −0.01; p = 0.0177), while there was no change in GA for infants born to White people following the emergency declaration (95% CI: −0.01, 0.03; p = 0.6962). The FWC, which was widely attributed to structural racism, appears to have had a greater impact, overall, on outcomes for babies born to Black people. However, given the frequency of highly publicized examples of anti-Black racism over the study period, it is difficult to disentangle the effects of the FWC from the effects of other racialized stressors.
Subject
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Reference130 articles.
1. Racial/ethnic disparities in obstetric outcomes and care: prevalence and determinants;Bryant;Am J Obstet Gynecol.,2010
2. Births: final data for 2018;Martin;Natl Vital Stat Rep.,2019
3. Race and ethnic disparities in fetal mortality, preterm birth, and infant mortality in the United States: an overview;MacDorman;Semin Perinatol.,2011
4. An overview of mortality and sequelae of preterm birth from infancy to adulthood;Saigal;Lancet.,2008
5. The weathering hypothesis and the health of African-American women and infants: evidence and speculations;Geronimus;Ethn Dis.,1992
Cited by
5 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献