Mortality among Infants of Black as Compared with White College-Educated Parents
Abstract
Background In the United States, black infants are twice as likely to die as white infants; this difference reflects both black infants' higher rates of low birth weight and the higher mortality among black infants of normal birth weight. We studied mortality in infants born to college-educated parents in order to investigate this gap while controlling for sociodemographic variables. Methods We used the National Linked Birth and Infant Death Files for 1983 through 1985 to calculate infant mortality rates for children born to college-educated parents. The study population consisted of 865, 128 white infants and 42,230 black infants. A separate effect of birth weight was assessed by examining mortality rates before and after the exclusion of infants weighing less than 2500 g at birth (low-birth-weight infants). Results In this population, the infant mortality rate was 10.2 per 1000 live births for black infants and 5.4 per 1000 live births for white infants; the adjusted odds ratio for death among black infants was 1.82 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.64 to 2.01). The rate of low birth weight was more than twice as high among blacks (7 percent) as among whites (3 percent), although the mortality rate in this group was not higher among blacks than among whites. Black infants were three times as likely as white infants to die of causes attributable to perinatal events, including prematurity. They were no more likely to die of the sudden infant death syndrome. After the exclusi…
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College-educated African American women have twice the infant mortality rate of college-educated White women.
“even college-educated African American women have twice the infant mortality rate of college-educated White women (Schoendorf et al. 1992).”
From Resistance and Resilience: The Sojourner Syndrome and the Social Context of Reproduction in Cenral Harlem (2005) · cites this paper as Schoendorf et al. 1992
Black women fare worse than White women at every economic level.
“they fare worse than White women at every economic level”
From Resistance and Resilience: The Sojourner Syndrome and the Social Context of Reproduction in Cenral Harlem (2005) · cites this paper as Schoendorf et al. 1992
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- Authors
- Schoendorf, K. C., Hogue, C. J. R., Kleinman, J. C., & Rowley, D.
- Affiliations
- National Center for Health Statistics (US)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US)
- Venue
- New England Journal of Medicine
- Publisher
- Massachusetts Medical Society
- Published
- 1992-06-04
- Volume
- 326
- Issue
- 23
- Pages
- 1522-1526
- ISSN
- 0028-4793 (ISSN-L)
- 1533-4406
- OpenAlex
- W1965774202
- Cited by
- 383
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 12
- FWCI
- 63.94
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- New England Journal of Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DigitalGeorgetown (Georgetown University Library) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Maternal and Neonatal Healthcare
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Infant Development and Preterm Care
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Keywords
- infant mortality, racial disparities, Black infants, white infants, low birth weight, perinatal mortality, preterm birth, sudden infant death syndrome, normal birth weight infants
- MeSH terms
- Birth Weight, Black or African American, Educational Status, Humans, Infant Mortality, Infant, Newborn, Marriage, Maternal Age, United States, White People
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