Low Birth Weight Infants Born to African American Women

1171 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare

Introduction Infant mortality in the United States is considerably higher than other developed countries. One of the leading causes of this tragic statistic is low birth weight (LBW,  2500 g). An infant’s birth weight can be utilized as a predictor for health and directly linked to future health risks and outcomes (Holland, Kitzman, & Veazie, 2009). In the United States, the population group with the highest incidence of LBW is African American women. This perinatal racial disparity is evidenced by a wide array of social, cultural and behavioral factors that have an impact on LBW infants born to African American women. This paper will examine those contributing factors. Target Population African American women make up 13 percent of the female population and are subject to severe racial and ethnic disparities (Guerra, 2013). Only one in four African American women have health insurance (Guerra, 2013). This fact, along with other socioeconomic factors, contributes greatly to the poor health care outcomes that African American women experience, as when they finally do receive access to health care, it is usually late onset care. Unemployment rates are considerably higher and weekly income earnings are considerably lower for African American women than for white women (Guerra, 2013). In 2010, 21.4 percent of African American women had a college degree or higher compared to white women at 30 percent (Guerra, 2013). The rate of poverty in African American women is 28.6 percent with the rate of poverty rate in white women being 10.8 percent (Guerra, 2013). For generations, this population of women has been culturally and behaviorally influenced by racism, poverty, mistrust of the medical system, lack of access to health ca... ... middle of paper ... ...ealth Journal, 14, 557-566. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10995-009-0495-9 Collins, Jr., J. W., Wambach, J., David, R. J., & Rankin, K. M. (2009). Women’s lifelong exposure to neighborhood poverty and low birth weight: a population-based study. Maternal Child Health Journal, 13, 326-333. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10995-008-0354-0 Dailey, D. E. (2009). Social stressors and strengths as predictors of infant birth weight in low-income African American women. Nursing Research, 58, 340-347. Guerra, M. (2013). Fact sheet: the state of African American women in the United States. Retrieved from http://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/SOW-factsheet-AA.pdf Holland, M. L., Kitzman, H., & Veazie, P. (2009). The effects of stress on birth weight in low-income unmarried black women. Women’s Health Issues, 19, 390-397. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.whi.2009.07.005

Show More
Related

  • Patricia Hill Collins '' Intersectionality Is Not Neutral'

    561 Words  | 2 Pages

    As both Tracey Reynolds and Audre Lorde have emphasized, Black women are not perpetually passive victims, but active agents. It is totally possible for Black women to seize a form of empowerment, whether that be alternative education, or the creation of organizations that weren’t situated in either the Civil Rights movement or Women’s

    Read More

  • Leith Mullings' On Our Own Terms: Race, Class, And Gender In The Lives Of African American Women

    874 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Author of this book (On our own terms: race, class, and gender in the lives of African American Women) Leith Mullings seeks to explore the modern and historical lives of African American women on the issues of race, class and gender. Mullings does this in a very analytical way using a collection of essays written and collected over a twenty five year period. The author’s systematic format best explains her point of view. The book explores issues such as family, work and health comparing and contrasting between white and black women as well as between men and women of both races.

    Read More

  • Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health

    1358 Words  | 3 Pages

    Large disparities exist between minorities and the rest of Americans in major areas of health. Even though the overall health of the nation is improving, minorities suffer from certain diseases up to five times more than the rest of the nation. President Clinton has committed the nation to eliminating the disparities in six areas of health by the Year 2010, and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will be jumping in on this huge battle. The six areas are: Infant Mortality, Cancer Screening and Management, Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, HIV Infection and AIDS, and Child and Adult Immunizations.

    Read More

  • Roy Wilkins and the NAACP: A Life Dedicated to the Civil Rights Movement

    1816 Words  | 4 Pages

    The African American Almanac, 7th edition. ed., L. Mpho Mabanda. Detroit: Gale Research, Inc., 1997.

    Read More

  • How the Civil Rights Movement Influenced the Women's Liberation Movement

    1779 Words  | 4 Pages

    Similarly important was the role black women on an individual level played in offering a model for white women to follow. Because black men had a harder time finding employment, black women had a history of working ou...

    Read More

  • Effects of Prenatal Maternal Stress on Development

    2053 Words  | 5 Pages

    Although there are many factors that affect the development of the fetus, research on the specific effects of prenatal maternal stress and the resulting negative outcomes for the development of the fetus will be reviewed. While there is knowledge of these harmful effects in scientific and medical communities, researchers are still in the midst of discovering the results of these negative effects on human development. An overall review of the literature suggests that this topic is still relatively new in research as most of the articles make note that despite the amount of current research studies, there are still many unanswered questions.

    Read More

  • When the Bough Breaks

    798 Words  | 2 Pages

    First, I will give out some statistics of infant mortality rates in America. According to an Amnesty International report, two maternal deaths occur every day for African-American women. Even though 99% of birth-related deaths happen in developing countries, these numbers for African American women in a country with world renowned health facilities are discouraging.

    Read More

  • Essay On Disparities And Diversity

    816 Words  | 2 Pages

    The article “Of disparities and diversity: Where are we?” helped me better understand the health experiences of women and how disparities remain a persistent problem today. There were certain disparities of some people not having insurance, having limited access to care, not get proper care and of course having negative health outcomes. Race and ethnicity are the common factors of disparities in healthcare but social and environmental factors play a major part in it too. It is said that this world is becoming more diverse. The population is becoming more heterogeneous. It is estimated that Hispanics and blacks will populate over half of the U.S. That said, since the people of color make up the majority of those that are uninsured and have low income it will be even more important to address healthcare disparities. So now there is more efforts to focus on the disparities to prevent them from continuing.

    Read More

  • Healthcare Disparities among African Americans

    1346 Words  | 3 Pages

    Healthcare disparities are when there are inequalities or differences of the conditions of health and the quality of care that is received among specific groups of people such as African Americans, Caucasians, Asians, or Hispanics. Not only does it occur between racial and ethnic groups, health disparities can happen between males and females as well. Minorities have the worst healthcare outcomes, higher death rates, and are more prone to terminal diseases. For African American men and women, some of the most common health disparities are diabetes, cancer, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and HIV infections. Some factors that can contribute to disparities are healthcare access, transportation, specialist referrals, and non-effective communication with patients. There is also much racism that still occurs today, which can be another reason African Americans may be mistreated with their healthcare. “Although both black and white patients tended not to endorse the existence of racism in the medical system, African Americans patients were more likely to perceive racism” (Laveist, Nickerson, Bowie, 2000). Over the years, the health care system has made improvements but some Americans, such as African Americans, are still being treating unequally when wanting the same care they desire as everyone else.

    Read More

  • The Relationship Between Poverty and Health Care in America

    2162 Words  | 5 Pages

    ...Lichter and Crowley).Low-income mothers are more likely to have low birth-weight babies, who are at greater risk than other babies for a variety of cognitive and emotional problems. In addition, poor children are more likely than other children to be exposed to toxic substances and other environmental health risks and to have less healthy diets. These greater health and environmental risks help explain the higher rates of asthma, diabetes, learning disabilities, and speech or hearing problems that limit the school attendance of poor children and interfere with their academic performance and physical activities. The percentage of poor children with such chronic health conditions increased between the mid-19880s and mid-1990s, and the gap between poor children and other children widened (Lichter and Crowley). As have the number of unwed mothers receiving public aid.

    Read More

  • Health Promotion In Health

    1666 Words  | 4 Pages

    As part of the Healthy People 2020 initiative, a national goal has been set to improve the health and well-being of women, infants, children, and families. This is an important public health movement considering their well-being determines the health of the next generation and can help predict future public health challenges for families, communities, and the health care system. Since there are many social and physical determinants of maternal, infant, and child health, recent efforts have been focused on addressing disparities by employing a “life course” perspective to health promotion and disease prevention. MICH 10.2 is an objective that seeks to improve the population’s health and well-being by increasing the proportion of pregnant women

    Read More

  • Prenatal Care

    846 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [Office on Women’s Health] (2009), “Babies of mothers who do not get prenatal care are three times more likely to have a low birthweight and five times more likely to die than those born to mothers who do get care” (p. 1). Prenatal care in the U.S. began as a preventive measure against preeclampsia, which at the time included program visits by physicians who conducted physicals, history, and risk assessments. Over the years, prenatal care has changed its focus to low birthweight and other preventive illnesses in an attempt to reduce the rate of infant mortality. Increased use of prenatal care has shown a decline in the rates of birthweight-related mortality and other preventable medical diseases such as post-partum depression and infant injuries.

    Read More

  • Unnatural Casual Series In Sickness And In Wealth

    1611 Words  | 4 Pages

    Racial discrimination can lead to depression as well as added stress to people’s lives, which you know can lead to higher chances of diseases. Unequal social conditions, such as nutrition and medical care can play a big role in the health of people of color. As the textbook states, white patients are more likely than their counterparts to receive knee placement or coronary bypass surgery, as well as a better chance to obtain a cardiac catheterization. These two examples of unintentional discrimination can immensely diminish the health of minority groups in the long run. [Henslin, 2016] Due to the structure of our society, racial discrimination can be a key determinant of someone’s SES, which as you now know plays a big factor in determining someone’s health. According to U.S. Poverty Statistics, African Americans and Hispanics have twice the poverty rate of non-Hispanic whites. [U.S. Poverty Statistics, 2016] While this stat is very shocking, I feel that is more important to dive into why our society is this

    Read More

  • Personal Statement for Harvard School of Public Health

    587 Words  | 2 Pages

    I began to investigate the relationship between social factors and health as a research assistant at the University of Michigan Sleep Disorders Center. During my five-year tenure there, I facilitated projects that primarily investigated the relationship between maternal sleep quality and maternal and perinatal outcomes. As I became immersed in emerging maternal sleep research, I was alarmed by the scarcity of studies examining social differences in sleep quality. Therefore, I independently investigated how race influenced the relationship between sleep q...

    Read More

  • Teratogens and Their Effects on Fetus Development

    1998 Words  | 4 Pages

    Huizink, A. C., Robles de Medina, P. G., Mulder, E. J., Visser, G. H., & Buitelaar, J. K. (2003). Stress during pregnancy is associated with developmental outcome in infancy. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 44(6), 810-818.

    Read More

More about Low Birth Weight Infants Born to African American Women

Open Document