Remapping racial and ethnic inequities in severe maternal morbidity: The legacy of redlining in California.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Historical mortgage redlining, a racially discriminatory policy designed to uphold structural racism, may have played a role in producing the persistently elevated rate of severe maternal morbidity (SMM) among racialised birthing people.

Objective

This study examined associations between Home-Owner Loan Corporation (HOLC) redlining grades and SMM in a racially and ethnically diverse birth cohort in California.

Methods

We leveraged a population-based cohort of all live hospital births at ≥20 weeks of gestation between 1997 and 2017 in California. SMM was defined as having one of 21 procedures and diagnoses, per an index developed by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We characterised census tract-level redlining using HOLC's security maps for eight

SUBMITTER: Gao X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10373920 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature