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. 2004 Mar;96(3):315–324.

Lower rates of low birthweight and preterm births in the California Black Infant Health Program.

Winnie O Willis 1, Clara H Eder 1, Suzanne P Lindsay 1, Gilberto Chavez 1, Shirley T Shelton 1
PMCID: PMC2594864  PMID: 15040513

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to determine the impact of prenatal interventions in the California Black Infant Health (BIH) Program on low birthweight (LBW) and preterm births (PTB) outcomes. METHODS: A prospective observational study design with a comparison group was used. BIH participants with a delivery recorded between July 1996 and September 1998 were included in the birthweight and PTB analyses. These outcomes for BIH participants who entered the BIH program prior to 32 weeks' gestation (n=1,553) were compared to those of all African-American women in the BIH Program targeted ZIP codes (n=11,633). RESULTS: No statistically significant differences in LBW and PTB were found between the BIH population and the comparison group. However, a comparison of the BIH infant VLBW (<1,500 g) rate (1.9%) with the VLBW rate for the comparison group (3.0%) shows that the BIH rate is 63% of the comparison group rate. For very PTB (<32 weeks), the BIH rate (3.5%) is 81% of the comparison group rate (4.3%). BIH participants had higher risk profiles (pregnancy history, current pregnancy, and psychosocial; p=<0.01) than women in the comparison group. CONCLUSIONS: The BIH Program retained high-risk women in the program to delivery and assisted them with maintenance of prenatal care. Even though the program participants were higher risk, their LBW and PTB outcomes were comparable to the geographic area overall. More importantly, there was a trend among women in the BIH Program toward better outcomes than the comparison group in both VLBW and VPTB.

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Selected References

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