Table 1.
Maternal and Neonatal Characteristics of Births Before and After Power Plant Retirement According Distance From the Power Plant, California, 2001–2011
| Characteristic | Distance From the Power Plant | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0–5 km | 5–10 km | 10–20 km | ||||||||||
| Before (n = 4,207) |
After (n = 4,494) |
Before (n = 7,811) |
After (n = 8,120) |
Before (n = 16,065) |
After (n = 16,308) |
|||||||
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| Maternal age, yearsa | 29 (24–34) | 31 (26–35) | 29 (24–34) | 30 (24–34) | 31 (26–35) | 29 (24–34) | ||||||
| Maternal race/ethnicity | ||||||||||||
| Non-Hispanic | ||||||||||||
| Asian | 825 | 19.6 | 988 | 22 | 2,233 | 28.6 | 2,397 | 29.5 | 2,850 | 17.7 | 3,103 | 19 |
| Black | 326 | 7.8 | 354 | 7.9 | 472 | 6.0 | 507 | 6.2 | 2,022 | 12.6 | 2,106 | 12.9 |
| White | 972 | 23.1 | 1,063 | 23.7 | 2,721 | 34.8 | 2,784 | 34.3 | 4,902 | 30.5 | 4,773 | 29.3 |
| Hispanic | 2,058 | 48.9 | 2,075 | 46.2 | 2,331 | 29.8 | 2,385 | 29.4 | 6,067 | 37.8 | 6,018 | 36.9 |
| Other | 4 | 0.1 | 2 | 0.04 | 5 | 0.1 | 8 | 0.1 | 6 | 0.04 | 11 | 0.1 |
| Missing | 22 | 0.5 | 12 | 0.3 | 49 | 0.6 | 39 | 0.5 | 218 | 1.4 | 297 | 1.8 |
| Maternal educational attainment | ||||||||||||
| Did not complete high school | 1,141 | 27.1 | 1,087 | 24.2 | 1,397 | 17.9 | 1,246 | 15.3 | 3,659 | 22.8 | 3,504 | 21.5 |
| High-school diploma or equivalent | 1,000 | 23.8 | 1,093 | 24.3 | 1,543 | 19.8 | 1,692 | 20.8 | 3,932 | 24.5 | 3,823 | 23.4 |
| Some college | 758 | 18.0 | 809 | 18.0 | 1,405 | 18.0 | 1,495 | 18.4 | 3,203 | 19.9 | 3,489 | 21.4 |
| College degree | 712 | 16.9 | 870 | 19.4 | 1,909 | 24.4 | 2,186 | 26.9 | 2,690 | 16.7 | 3,022 | 18.5 |
| Graduate school | 550 | 13.1 | 590 | 13.1 | 1,474 | 18.9 | 1,400 | 17.2 | 2,191 | 13.6 | 1,957 | 12.0 |
| Missing | 46 | 1.1 | 45 | 1.0 | 83 | 1.1 | 101 | 1.2 | 390 | 2.4 | 513 | 3.2 |
| Prenatal visitsa | 12 (10–14) | 12 (10–14) | 12 (10–15) | 12 (10–15) | 12 (10–14) | 12 (10–15) | ||||||
| Neonate sex | ||||||||||||
| Female | 2,075 | 49.3 | 2,153 | 49.0 | 3,827 | 49.0 | 3,916 | 48.2 | 7,860 | 48.9 | 7,897 | 48.4 |
| Male | 2,132 | 50.7 | 2,341 | 52.1 | 3,984 | 51.0 | 4,204 | 51.8 | 8,205 | 51.1 | 8,411 | 51.6 |
| Gestational age, weeksa | 40 (38–41) | 40 (39–41) | 39 (39–40) | 40 (39–40) | 39 (39–40) | 39 (39–40) | ||||||
| Preterm (<37 weeks) | 316 | 7.5 | 272 | 6.1 | 516 | 6.6 | 450 | 5.5 | 994 | 6.2 | 1,068 | 6.5 |
| Late preterm (≥32 and <37 weeks) | 265 | 6.3 | 216 | 4.8 | 460 | 5.9 | 384 | 4.7 | 815 | 5.1 | 889 | 5.5 |
| Early preterm (<32 weeks) | 51 | 1.2 | 56 | 1.2 | 56 | 0.7 | 66 | 0.8 | 179 | 1.1 | 179 | 1.0 |
| Neighborhood characteristicsb | ||||||||||||
| Living below federal poverty threshold, %a | 15.6 (7.8–26.7) | 15.8 (7.1–26.7) | 15.4 (7.8–27.1) | 15 (7.4–26.7) | 9.7 (4.9–19.3) | 9.4 (4.7–18.8) | ||||||
| Less than high-school diploma or equivalent, %a | 10.9 (6.2–18.7) | 10.7 (5.8–18.5) | 13.6 (7.3–22.2) | 12.9 (6.6–21.8) | 10.7 (4.8–18.3) | 10.0 (4.3–18.0) | ||||||
| Annual foreclosuresa | 0 (0–2) | 3 (1–7) | 0 (0–1) | 3 (1–8) | 0 (0–2) | 5 (2–12) | ||||||
a Data expressed as median (interquartile range).
b Neighborhood characteristics assigned based on mother’s block group of residence at time of birth; poverty and educational attainment obtained from the 2000 US Census and the 2005–2009 American Community Survey (43); California foreclosure data obtained from CoreLogic (http://www.corelogic.com/).