Table 1.
Descriptive Statistics of Study Population of 626 Children 2 and 3 Years of Age Born at Very Low Birth Weight by Category of Neighborhood Disadvantage and Advantagea,b
| Characteristic | No. (%)
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Disadvantaged Neighborhood (n=221) | Middle Advantage Neighborhood (n=167) | Advantaged Neighborhood (n=238) | Full Sample (N=626) | |
| Child’s race | ||||
| White non-Hispanic | 71 (32.1) | 10 (6.0) | 7 (3.0) | 88 (14.1) |
| Black non-Hispanic | 150 (67.9) | 157 (94.0) | 231 (97.0) | 538 (85.9) |
| Total annual income, $ | ||||
| <10 000 | 81 (36.7) | 18 (10.8) | 17 (7.1) | 116 (18.5) |
| 10 000–<30 000 | 47 (21.3) | 43 (25.8) | 22 (9.2) | 112 (17.9) |
| 30 000–60 000 | 56 (25.2) | 53 (31.7) | 57 (24.0) | 166 (26.5) |
| >60 000 | 37 (16.7) | 53 (31.7) | 142 (59.7) | 232 (37.1) |
| Maternal education | ||||
| <HS degree | 26 (11.8) | 6 (3.6) | 4 (1.7) | 36 (5.8) |
| HS degree or equivalent | 65 (29.4) | 42 (25.5) | 27 (11.3) | 134 (21.4) |
| Some post-HS education | 89 (40.3) | 72 (43.1) | 70 (29.4) | 231 (36.9) |
| Bachelor degree or postgraduate studies | 41 (18.6) | 47 (28.1) | 137 (57.6) | 225 (35.9) |
| Employment status of mother | ||||
| Unemployed | 29 (13.1) | 14 (8.4) | 15 (6.3) | 58 (9.3) |
| Employed | 192 (86.9) | 153 (91.6) | 223 (93.7) | 330 (52.7) |
| Sex of the child | ||||
| M | 104 (47.1) | 78 (46.7) | 114 (47.9) | 296 (47.3) |
| F | 117 (52.9) | 89 (53.3) | 124 (52.1) | 330 (52.7) |
| Family structure | ||||
| Single biological parent | 88 (39.8) | 33 (19.8) | 26 (10.9) | 147 (23.5) |
| 2 Biological parents | 133 (60.2) | 134 (80.2) | 212 (89.1) | 479 (76.5) |
| No. of other children in household | ||||
| 0 | 73 (33.0) | 67 (40.1) | 79 (33.2) | 219 (35.0) |
| 1 | 78 (35.3) | 54 (32.3) | 95 (39.9) | 227 (36.3) |
| 2 | 42 (19.0) | 32 (19.2) | 48 (20.2) | 122 (19.5) |
| ≥3 | 28 (12.7) | 14 (8.4) | 16 (6.7) | 58 (9.3) |
| Health-related quality of life | ||||
| Low (<−1 SD below mean) | 53 (24.0) | 27 (16.2) | 40 (16.8) | 120 (19.2) |
| Middle (between −1 and 1 SD from mean) | 111 (50.2) | 89 (53.3) | 122 (51.3) | 322 (51.4) |
| High (>1 SD above mean) | 57 (25.8) | 51 (30.5) | 76 (31.9) | 184 (29.4) |
| Severity of neonatal morbidity score,c mean (SD) | 16.3 (14.1) | 14.4 (12.5) | 14.6 (12.7) | 15.2 (13.14) |
| Birth weight, g, mean (SD) | 1072 (287) | 1092 (260) | 1098 (286) | 1087 (279) |
| Maternal age, y, mean (SD) | 30.0 (7.0) | 31.6 (6.3) | 32.8 (5.2) | 31.5 (6.3) |
| Child age, mo, mean (SD) | 29.9 (3.6) | 30.0 (3.1) | 28.6 (3.2) | 29.2 (3.36) |
| Social function score,d mean (SD) | 43.8 (13.7) | 48.0 (12.6) | 49.6 (13.7) | 47.1 (13.62) |
| Health-related quality of life score, all subscales,e mean (SD) | 85.8 (14.1) | 88.8 (11.0) | 87.9 (11.9) | 87.4 (12.54) |
| Social subscale score | 88.5 (15.7) | 91.3 (12.3) | 90.7 (14.1) | 90.1 (14.28) |
| Emotional subscale score | 82.3 (15.0) | 82.6 (14.3) | 81.6 (14.3) | 82.2 (14.53) |
| Physical subscale score | 86.6 (17.2) | 90.8 (15.8) | 89.8 (15.7) | 88.9 (16.36) |
Abbreviations: HS, high school; VLBW, very low birth weight.
Neighborhood disadvantage categories were created from an overall neighborhood disadvantage index (combining maternal education, poverty, single-family households, maternal unemployment, and incomes lower than the state median each collected at the census tract level; higher scores indicate more disadvantage) to correspond to disadvantaged (highest tertile), middle disadvantaged (middle tertile), and advantaged (lowest tertile).
Very low birth weight is defined as a birth weight less than 1500 g.
Severity of neonatal morbidity was measured using the Score of Neonatal Acute Physiology II (range, 0–115). Higher scores indicate more severe morbidity.
Social function was measured using the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory standardized normalized scores (mean [SD]=50 [10]). Higher scores indicate better social function.
Health-related quality of life was measured using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory. Higher scores indicate better health-related quality of life.