*A study led by the University of South Florida sheds new light on obesity’s role in the black-white gap in infant mortality, reports sciencedaily.com.
While maternal obesity appears to have no impact on the early survival of infants born to white women, the situation is different for black women, researchers report in the June 2008 issue of the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Infants of obese black mothers had a higher risk of death in the first 27 days following birth than newborns of obese white mothers, the researchers found. Furthermore, this black disadvantage in neonatal infant mortality widened with an increase in the body mass index (BMI).
The black-white disparity in infant mortality persisted even when the researchers adjusted for certain obesity-associated medical complications more prevalent in black women — high blood pressure, diabetes and preeclampsia.
“This further confirms our findings that high BMI is an independent risk factor for neonatal mortality among blacks but not whites,” said the study’s lead author Hamisu Salihu, MD, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology at the USF College of Public Health.
The researchers also controlled for the amount of prenatal care received since another possible explanation for the black-white disparity may be that obese white women have better access to prenatal care than black women. Their results suggested otherwise, but Dr. Salihu cautions that more study is needed.
“We cannot dismiss access to care as a factor because the quantity of prenatal care does not take into account the quality of care received,” he said.
Dr. Salihu suggests that differences in the way fat is distributed in white and black women may play a role in their newborns’ survival. Studies have shown that fat tucked deep inside the waistline may be worse for adults’ health than fat padding the rest of the body.
“If we can understand more about the potential association between fat distribution in mothers and likelihood of death in their babies, we might have an avenue for prevention and narrowing the persistent black-white gap in infant mortality,” he said.
The latest study builds on another published last year by Dr. Salihu and colleagues, which reported that the risk for obesity-associated stillbirth was 50 percent greater among blacks than whites.
The researchers analyzed more than 1.4 million births recorded from Missouri’s vital records database, covering the period 1978 through 1997.
While maternal obesity appears to have no impact on the early survival of infants born to white women, the situation is different for black women, researchers report in the June 2008 issue of the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Infants of obese black mothers had a higher risk of death in the first 27 days following birth than newborns of obese white mothers, the researchers found. Furthermore, this black disadvantage in neonatal infant mortality widened with an increase in the body mass index (BMI).
The black-white disparity in infant mortality persisted even when the researchers adjusted for certain obesity-associated medical complications more prevalent in black women — high blood pressure, diabetes and preeclampsia.
“This further confirms our findings that high BMI is an independent risk factor for neonatal mortality among blacks but not whites,” said the study’s lead author Hamisu Salihu, MD, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology at the USF College of Public Health.
The researchers also controlled for the amount of prenatal care received since another possible explanation for the black-white disparity may be that obese white women have better access to prenatal care than black women. Their results suggested otherwise, but Dr. Salihu cautions that more study is needed.
“We cannot dismiss access to care as a factor because the quantity of prenatal care does not take into account the quality of care received,” he said.
Dr. Salihu suggests that differences in the way fat is distributed in white and black women may play a role in their newborns’ survival. Studies have shown that fat tucked deep inside the waistline may be worse for adults’ health than fat padding the rest of the body.
“If we can understand more about the potential association between fat distribution in mothers and likelihood of death in their babies, we might have an avenue for prevention and narrowing the persistent black-white gap in infant mortality,” he said.
The latest study builds on another published last year by Dr. Salihu and colleagues, which reported that the risk for obesity-associated stillbirth was 50 percent greater among blacks than whites.
The researchers analyzed more than 1.4 million births recorded from Missouri’s vital records database, covering the period 1978 through 1997.
1 comment:
Wtf that is not a black woman highly affendent that a chines woman and if is black. She need to get more color okay!!!1
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