Transgenerational Effect of Neighborhood Poverty on Low Birth Weight Among African Americans in Cook County, Illinois

• Published in: American journal of epidemiology Vol. 169; no. 6; pp. 712 - 717
• Main Authors: Collins, James W., David, Richard J., Rankin, Kristin M., Desireddi, Jennifer R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cary, NC Oxford University Press 15-03-2009; Oxford Publishing Limited (England)
• Subjects: Adult; African Americans; African Americans - statistics & numerical data; Analysis. Health state; Biological and medical sciences; Birth weight; Chicago - epidemiology; Clinical outcomes; Diseases of mother, fetus and pregnancy; Educational Status; Epidemiology; Female; General aspects; Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics; health status disparities; Humans; Income; infant; Infant, Low Birth Weight; Infant, Newborn; Logistic Models; low birth weight; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous; Neighborhoods; Poverty; Poverty Areas; Pregnancy; Pregnancy. Fetus. Placenta; Prenatal Care - utilization; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; residence characteristics; Risk Factors; Social Class; Urban Population - statistics & numerical data; United States; North America; Illinois; America; Chicago; Cook County Illinois; USA, Illinois, Cook Cty; USA, Illinois; Africa; African Americans; health status disparities; risk factors; infant, low birth weight; poverty; residence characteristics; Human; Social influence; African Americans; health status disparities; infant; low birth weight; poverty; residence characteristics; risk factors; Poverty; Pregnancy disorders; Low birth weight; Infant; Residential neighborhoods; Epidemiology; Newborn diseases; Health status; Prematurity; Characteristics; Risk factor; Social aspect; Public health; African American; Inequality
• ISSN: 0002-9262; 1476-6256
• DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwn402

In perinatal epidemiology, transgenerational risk factors are defined as conditions experienced by one generation that affect the pregnancy outcomes of the next generation. The authors investigated the transgenerational effect of neighborhood poverty on infant birth weight among African Americans. Stratified and multilevel logistic regression analyses were performed on an Illinois transgenerational data set with appended US Census income information. Singleton African-American infants (n = 40,648) born in 1989–1991 were considered index births. The mothers of index infants had been born in 1956–1976. The maternal grandmothers of index infants were identified. Rates of infant low birth weight (<2,500 g) rose as maternal grandmother's residential environment during her pregnancy deteriorated, independently of mother's residential environment during her pregnancy. In a multilevel logistic regression model that accounted for clustering by maternal grandmother's residential environment, the adjusted odds ratio (controlling for mother's age, education, prenatal care, cigarette smoking status, and residential environment) for infant low birth weight for maternal grandmother's residence in a poor neighborhood (compared with an affluent neighborhood) equaled 1.3 (95% confidence interval: 1.1, 1.4). This study suggests that maternal grandmother's exposure to neighborhood poverty during her pregnancy is a risk factor for infant low birth weight among African Americans.