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[ Recorded presentation ] Recorded presentation

Racial profiling and its effect on prenatal care at a county clinic in Arizona

Jonathan Zed Cartsonis, MD, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Maricopa Medical Center, 950 E. Van Buren, Avondale, AZ 85323, 602 684 0598, m0pwell@yahoo.com, Curt Bay, PhD, Dept of Interdisciplinary Health Sciences, AT Still University, 1958 E Carver Rd., Tempe, AZ 85284, and Dean Coonrod, MD, MPH, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Maricopa Medical Center, 2601 E. Roosevelt Street, Phoenix, AZ 85008.

Infant mortality in the United States ranks the highest among western industrialized nations.  Efforts to improve access to prenatal care and improve outcomes might be hindered by police activity that uses racial profiling.  We tested whether Hispanic patients whose primary language was either Spanish or English had fewer visits to their doctor in a period of racial profiling. In 1997, police conducted a sweep of undocumented residents in the community of Chandler, Arizona.  Officers were positioned throughout the city including the parking lot of a Chandler clinic serving a large legal and undocumented Hispanic population.  An investigation found that residents were detained by officers based on "Mexican" appearance. Chandler prenatal visit data were compared to a clinic in Avondale, serving a similar patient population but 40 miles away and not subject to the police operation.  Total number of prenatal care visits was calculated for each patient. Patient ethnicity and primary language spoken were abstracted from medical records. Mean visits were compared across two time periods—the last six months of 1996 and the same six months in 1997. We expected the total number of prenatal visits by Hispanic and/or Spanish-speaking women would decrease in 1997 at the clinic subjected to the sweeps, but not at the control clinic. The average number of prenatal care visits increased over the one-year time span proportionately in both clinics. These findings are consistent with reports showing stable levels of prenatal care among undocumented patients while changes in public policy have enhanced barriers to health care. 

 

Learning Objectives:

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

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The Influence of Finance and Policy Decisions on Systems Changes and Health Outcomes

The 134th Annual Meeting & Exposition (November 4-8, 2006) of APHA