Racial discrimination and the black-white gap in adverse birth outcomes: a review
Open accessAbstract
Introduction: The purpose of this integrative review was to evaluate what is known about the relationship between racial discrimination and adverse birth outcomes. Methods: A search of the Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, MEDLINE, and PsycINFO was conducted. The keywords used were: preterm birth, premature birth, preterm delivery, preterm labor, low birth weight, very low birth weight, racism, racial discrimination, and prejudice. Ten research studies were reviewed. All of the studies included African American women in their samples, were conducted in the United States, and were written in English. We did not limit the year of publication for the studies. Data were extracted based on the birth outcomes of preterm birth, low birth weight, or very low birth weight. Results: A consistent positive relationship existed between perceptions of racial discrimination and preterm birth, low birth weight, and very low birth weight. No relationship was found between racial discrimination and gestational age at birth. Discussion: Future research should explore the effects of racial discrimination as a chronic stressor contributing to the persistent gap in birth outcomes between racial groups.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 45 · Cited by 119
Research works printed but not linked: 4
- [8]Mustillo SK Discrimination as a psychosocial determinant of the black/white difference in maternal health, preterm delivery, and low birthweight: The CARDIA study [doctoral dissertation] Durham, North Carolina Duke University 2001 Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering 2001 62 10B
- [9]Dailey DE Social stressors and personal resources associated with perinatal outcomes among African American women [doctoral dissertation] University of California 2006 Dissertation Abstracts International 2006 163
- [14]Korte JE Psychosocial stress and its relationship to weight for gestational age and gestational age at delivery [doctoral dissertation] Chapel Hill, North Carolina University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 1999 Dissertation Abstracts International 1999 60
- [27]Green NL Stress, self-esteem and racism as factors associated with low birth weight and preterm delivery in African American childbearing women Dissertation Abstracts International 1991 156
- Authors
- Giurgescu, C., McFarlin, B. L., Lomax, J., Craddock, C., & Albrecht, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Illinois Chicago (US)
- United States Air Force (US)
- Corresponding author
- McFarlin, Barbara L.
- Venue
- Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2011-07
- Volume
- 56
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 362-370
- ISSN
- 1526-9523 (ISSN-L)
- 1542-2011
- PMC
- PMC5388001
- OpenAlex
- W2089813080
- Cited by
- 119
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 19.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Midwifery & Women s Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (L60 MD001295)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Maternal and Neonatal Healthcare
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Keywords
- racial discrimination, racial disparities in birth outcomes, preterm birth, low birth weight, very low birth weight, African American women, chronic stress
- MeSH terms
- Attitude to Health, Black or African American, Female, Health Status, Humans, Infant, Low Birth Weight, Infant, Newborn, Infant, Premature, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Outcome, Prenatal Care, Socioeconomic Factors, United States, Black People, White People, Premature Birth, Health Status Disparities
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
