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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Rahel Mathews, MPH and Jack Leiss, PhD, MPH. Statistics and Epidemiology, Constella Health Sciences, 2605 Meridian Parkway, Suite 200, Durham, NC 27713, 919 544-8500, rmathews@constellagroup.com

Birth outcomes such as low birth weight and preterm birth are important indicators of perinatal health and are associated with lower socio-economic status. A population based study conducted among Asian Indians in California, demonstrated a paradox where Asian Indians had relatively high socio-economic status but also high incidence of low birth weight and high fetal death rate. Very little is known about Asian Indian perinatal health in the southeast US. The purpose of this study is to describe the incidence of low birth weight and preterm birth among Asian Indians, non-Hispanic whites, and non-Hispanic blacks in Georgia. The Southeast Perinatal Data Project combined birth records from 5 states in the southeastern US, however, only Georgia records had a code for the racial group: Asian Indian. From 1994-2002, Georgia had 4,675 births to Asian Indians, 575,512 for non-Hispanic whites and 337,345 non-Hispanic blacks. We compared birth weight and gestational age by mother's age, marital status, mother's education, and parity for these 3 groups. Maternal risk factors such as hypertension and diabetes are described. Preliminary results show that 9% of Asian Indian births were less than 2500 grams compared to 5% for non-Hispanic whites and 11% for non-Hispanic blacks. The average birth weight in grams for Asian Indians was closer to blacks than to whites (3145 vs. 3123 for blacks, 3402 for whites). Misclassification of Asian Indian race and its effect on our results will be discussed.

Learning Objectives:

• To describe the incidence of low birth weight among Asian Indian births compared to whites and blacks.
• To describe gestational age and preterm birth among Asian Indians compared to other races.
• To describe misclassification related to records for Asian Indians.

Keywords: Maternal and Child Health,

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No