Table 1.

Characteristics of African-, Caribbean-, and US-Born Non-Hispanic Black Mothers, New York City Birth Records, 1995–2003

Characteristic	African-born			Caribbean-born			US-born
	No.	%	% PTB	No.	%	% PTB	No.	%	% PTB
Age, years
<20	522	2	8	4,772	5	10	21,939	15	11
20–34	15,771	75	7	60,951	70	9	101,579	72	11
≥35	4,771	23	9	21,238	24	12	18,242	13	16
Maternal education, years
<12, age <20 years	358	2	8	2,704	3	10	14,781	11	11
<12, age ≥20 years	5,729	28	7	12,776	15	10	26,709	19	14
12	7,297	35	8	35,916	42	10	47,669	34	12
13–15	3,382	16	8	21,846	25	10	36,772	26	11
≥16	3,796	18	7	12,452	15	10	14,089	10	10
Previous births
1	7,336	35	8	36,115	42	10	61,404	43	11
2–5	13,506	64	7	50,036	58	10	77,010	54	12
≥6	222	1	8	810	1	13	3,336	2	19
Prepregnancy weight, poundsab
<125	2,693	14	8	15,518	19	10	25,314	19	14
125–150	8,077	43	7	31,042	39	10	45,132	35	11
>150	8,109	43	8	34,065	42	10	60,104	46	10
Tobacco use
Nonsmoker	20,930	100	7	85,581	99	10	127,319	90	11
Smoker	62	0	18	866	1	14	127,319	10	19
Payment for delivery
Private insurance	4,891	24	8	30,289	36	10	48,872	35	10
Medicaid	14,859	71	7	50,553	60	10	86,077	62	13
Self-pay	1,045	5	11	3,266	4	15	4,472	3	18
Residential stability
Less stable	11,322	54	7	35,503	41	10	52,321	37	12
More stable	9,742	46	8	51,458	59	10	89,439	63	12
Neighborhood deprivation
Less deprived	6,074	29	8	42,396	49	10	41,654	29	10
More deprived	14,988	71	7	44,564	51	10	100,103	71	12
Continuous neighborhood deprivationc (median, 10th, 90th percentile)	0.63	0.29	1.58	0.31	−0.26	0.77	0.76	−0.28	1.63

Abbreviation: PTB, preterm birth.

^aOne pound = 0.45 kg.

^bAll variables were missing for less than 4% of observations, except prepregnancy weight (records missing for 10.4% of African-, 7.3% of Caribbean-, and 7.9% of US-born).

^cThe neighborhood deprivation index was derived by using principal components analysis from 17 census variables and was standardized to a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1, with more positive numbers corresponding to greater deprivation.