Low birth weight and maternal incarceration in pregnancy: A longitudinal linked data study of Western Australian infants.

ABSTRACT:

Rationale

Improved birth weight outcomes have been reported for infants of mothers imprisoned during pregnancy relative to similarly disadvantaged mothers, however, findings are equivocal and evidence is lacking from jurisdictions outside the United States.

Objective

To investigate whether maternal imprisonment during pregnancy is a determinant of low birth weight (<2500 g) for Indigenous and non-Indigenous infants in Western Australia.

Methods

A longitudinal sample of 41,910 singleton infants born in Western Australia (October 1985-December 2013), was identified with linked administrative data and examined by five mutually exclusive categories of maternal corrections history; (i) imprisonment in pregnancy, (ii) imprisonment before pregnancy, (iii) first imprisonment

SUBMITTER: Dowell CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6290037 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature