Jm. Mor et al., SIMILARITIES AND DISPARITIES IN MATERNAL RISK AND BIRTH OUTCOMES OF WHITE AND JAPANESE-AMERICAN MOTHERS, Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology, 9(1), 1995, pp. 59-73
This study compares the maternal sociodemographic and prenatal care ch
aracteristics and birth outcomes of US resident white and Japanese-Ame
rican mothers, using data from the state of Hawaii. The specific focus
is to determine to what extent these factors can explain variations i
n newborn maturity and mortality indicators. Single livebirths to resi
dent, non-military dependent white and Japanese-American mothers were
selected for analysis from the 1979-1990 linked livebirth-infant death
files from Hawaii. Compared with white mothers, Japanese-American mot
hers were significantly more likely to be married, age 18 years and ol
der, have higher educational attainment, and have adequate prenatal ca
re utilisation. The majority of Japanese-American mothers were born in
Hawaii, while the majority of white mothers were born on the US mainl
and. The mean birthweight of Japanese-American infants was 200 g light
er than that of white infants. Infant mortality rates (IMRs) for both
groups were below the US Year 2000 Health Objective. After controlling
for maternal sociodemographic and prenatal care factors with logistic
regression, Japanese-American infants had significantly higher risks
of low birthweight, preterm and very preterm birth and of being small-
for-gastational age. These findings indicate that populations with pre
ferential maternal sociodemographic and prenatal care risk indicators
may still exhibit higher low birthweight percentages, but achieve comp
aratively low IMRs.