Table 1.
Characteristics of African American mothers at Prentice Women’s Hospital by category of racial residential segregation, 2009–2013 (N = 4,748)
| Characteristic | High segregation N = 2,975 (62.7% of births) | Medium segregation N = 791 (16.7% of births) | Low segregation N = 982 (20.8% of births) | P valuea |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mother characteristics | ||||
| Age at delivery, mean (SD) | 29.3 (6.4) | 27.7 (6.4) | 27.9 (6.3) | <0.0001 |
| Insurance status, % | <0.0001 | |||
| Private | 42.8 | 45.4 | 56.5 | |
| Public | 56.5 | 53.2 | 42.8 | |
| None/self pay | 0.7 | 1.4 | 0.7 | |
| Multiparous, % | 50.2 | 47.8 | 42.9 | 0.0004 |
| Prevalent diabetes, % | 1.9 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 0.4 |
| Gestational diabetes. % | 6.1 | 4.6 | 7.2 | 0.06 |
| Smoking during pregnancy, % | 3.9 | 4.6 | 2.1 | 0.01 |
| Prevalent hypertension | 3.6 | 3.4 | 2.9 | 0.5 |
| Hypertensive disorder of pregnancy,b % | 9.4 | 9.1 | 8.6 | 0.7 |
| Geographic characteristics | ||||
| G* statistic, mean (SD)c | 4.58 (1.10) | 0.74 (0.52) | −0.90 (0.48) | <0.0001 |
| Neighborhood poverty, mean (SD)d | 0.31 (0.14) | 0.25 (0.15) | 0.15 (0.09) | <0.0001 |
a P values from chi-squared tests for categorical variables and one-way analysis of variance for continuous variables.
bDefined as gestational hypertension or pre-eclampsia.
cLevels of racial residential segregation categorized into high, medium, and low based on the value of the local Gi* statistic, which measures the deviation of the racial composition of the census tract from the larger area. Segregation levels based on a Gi* statistic z-score of less than 0, 0–1.96, and greater than 1.96, represent low, medium, and high categories, respectively.
dProportion of individuals within the census tract with household income below the federal poverty threshold based on data from the 2009 to 2013 US Census American Community Survey.