Explaining racial disparities in infant health in Brazil.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

We sought to quantify how socioeconomic, health care, demographic, and geographic effects explain racial disparities in low birth weight (LBW) and preterm birth (PTB) rates in Brazil.

Methods

We employed a sample of 8949 infants born between 1995 and 2009 in 15 cities and 7 provinces in Brazil. We focused on disparities in LBW (< 2500 g) and PTB (< 37 gestational weeks) prevalence between infants of African ancestry alone or African mixed with other ancestries, and European ancestry alone. We used a decomposition model to quantify the contributions of conceptually relevant factors to these disparities.

Results

The model explained 45% to 94% of LBW and 64% to 94% of PTB disparities between the African ancestry groups and European ancestry. Differences in pre

SUBMITTER: Nyarko KA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3740020 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature