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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Feb 1.
Published in final edited form as: Soc Sci Med. 2017 Apr 13;199:49–55. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.04.019

Table 1.

Descriptive characteristics, National Center for Health Statistics, 2005–2008.

Total Black Births 2,332,216
Preterm Birth 15.9%
Low Birth Weight 11.4%
Maternal Age
 <18 Years   6.3%
 18–34 Years 83.6%
 35+ Years 10.1%
Region
 Northeast 15.3%
 Midwest 19.5%
 South 57.4%
 West   7.8%
Urbanicity 49.2%
% Black Population   9.5%
% Black <High School 33.0%
% Black Poverty 30.0%

Note: Restricted to singleton live births and counties with >200 births to Black mothers residing in 196 DMAs; excluded births with weight <500 grams or gestational age less than 22 weeks. Preterm birth defined as <37 weeks gestation; low birthweight defined as <2500 grams. County-level covariates from the American Community Survey, 2005–2009, for urbanicity (% living in a city with >50,000 people), % Black population, % of Blacks with less than high school education, and % of Blacks in poverty.