Social, Psychosocial Factors Important Among Pregnant, Low-Income, African-American Women.(risk factors for premature birth)

2001 MAY 10 - (NewsRx Network) -- A lack of time or money for "non-essentials," such as socializing with friends, going out to dinner, or taking care of one's appearance, may be among the many factors contributing to the risk of delivering a baby prematurely (prior to 37 weeks of pregnancy), according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The study is among the first to look beyond medical reasons for preterm delivery and examine social and psychosocial influences among a unique group already at high risk: low-income, African-American women.

The findings were published in the April 2001 issue of Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology.

Previous research indicates that infant mortality in the United States continues to decline, yet the rate of preterm births has not shown any improvement over the past decade. Seventy-five percent of newborn deaths are attributable to preterm delivery.

"In order to decrease the rate of preterm births, which currently account for 11% of all deliveries in the United States, we must increase our understanding of the causes of preterm delivery," says Dawn Misra, PhD, MHS, assistant professor of population and family health sciences at Johns Hopkins. "Our findings suggest that lacking what might be deemed 'non-essential' may lead to a woman feeling stressed or hopeless, without control or power. These feelings, in turn, increase her risk of delivering preterm."

Research on social factors - poverty, education, and race - has often included low income and African-American women. Yet much of the previous research into psychosocial causes of preterm delivery - stress, locus of control, depression - has focused on middle-class white women. Misra and her colleagues studied social and psychosocial factors as well as medical variables in a sample of 735 low-income, African-American women using information collected for a study of prenatal care and drug use. Data were gathered by interviewing the mothers following delivery and by abstracting information from their medical records. This was a high-risk sample of women as indicated by the fact that nearly one in four women delivered preterm as compared to 11% ...