262160 Comparison of maternal characteristics and low birthweight among Asian subgroups in California

Tuesday, October 30, 2012 : 11:00 AM - 11:15 AM

Zhiwei Yu, MPH , Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Division, California Department of Public Health, Sacramento, CA
LouAnn Barr, MSW , Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Program, California Department of Public Health, Sacramento, CA
Brason Lee, MSW, MS , Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Program, California Department of Public Health, Sacramento, CA
Michael P. Curtis, PhD , Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Division, California Department of Public Health, Sacramento, CA
Connie Mitchell, MD, MPH , California Department of Public Health, Maternal Child and Adolescent Health Division, Sacramento, CA
  
     
Background: Asians are generally treated as one categorical group in epidemiological studies. However, Asians consist of a diverse group of individuals from many different ethnic backgrounds and may have particular health needs that can't be identified or addressed adequately when grouped together.

Objective: This study sought to describe maternal characteristics and differences in the risk of delivering a low birthweight (LBW) infant among eight Asian subgroups.

Methods: California birth certificate data from 2009-2010 were analyzed for Asian women delivering singleton births. Maternal socio-demographic characteristics were compared for eight major Asian subgroups: Chinese (n=26,729), Japanese (n=4,758), Korean (n=9,873), Vietnamese (n=14,203), Filipino (n=27,820), Asian Indian (n=19,543), Pacific Islander (n=4,632) and Cambodian/Laotian/Hmong (n=10,068). Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the risk of LBW while controlling for maternal characteristics.

Results: Of 1.04 million California live births, 128,140 (or 12.4%) births were to Asian mothers. The percent of births to women 35 years of age and older ranged from 11.8% (Cambodian/Laotian/Hmong) to 49.6% (Japanese); first trimester prenatal care initiation ranged from 68.3% (Pacific Islander) to 92.5% (Korean); rate of LBW ranged from 3.7% (Korean) to 7.7% (Filipino). Asian Indians and Filipinas were two times more likely to have delivered a LBW infant than non-Hispanic whites (OR=2.3, 95% CI 2.2, 2.5, OR=2.2, 95% CI 2.1, 2.3 respectively).

Conclusions: Maternal characteristics and risk for delivering a LBW infant varies greatly across Asian subgroups. Heterogeneity of this population should be considered when developing and targeting clinical and public health prevention efforts.

Learning Areas:
Diversity and culture
Epidemiology
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Program planning

Learning Objectives:
1) Describe the distribution of births across Asian ethnic groups in California. 2) Describe differences in maternal socio-demographic characteristics and birth outcome within Asian subgroups.

Keywords: Asian and Pacific Islander Women, Birth Outcomes

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been a researcher in the maternal and child health field for over a decade. I am published author of articles and abstracts on various maternal and child health topics with special interest in maternal mobidities and cesarean deliveries.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4098.0: Health across the lifespan: API perspectives