MATERNAL STRESS AND PREGNANCY OUTCOMES IN A PRENATAL CLINIC POPULATION

A two-fold decrease in the incidence of infant low birth weight, from 20.6% to 8.3%, occurred in African American women enrolled from 1985 t o 1988 in this interdisciplinary research project conducted in an urba n prenatal clinic. Nutritional, biochemical, medical, psychosocial, li festyle, and environmental data were collected by trained African Amer ican interviewers. Several instruments were administered to the mother to specify the stress construct and assess body image, the social sup port network, and other psychosocial variables. The reduction in the i ncidence of low birth weight in an urban African American low income p opulation admitted to the Howard University Hospital is attributed to the mediation of maternal stress by project personnel, in effect, prov iding an additional support system through the caring, sensitive envir onment provided by the project clinical staff, who met the women at ea ch of their clinic-scheduled appointments. Women with a positive self attitude and higher self esteem were more likely to be delivered infan ts at term; the number of persons in the mother's social support netwo rk was directly correlated with her infant's gestational age. Maternal serum concentrations of the antioxidant vitamins, vitamin E and ascor bic acid, and the free radical scavenger, uric acid, were significantl y correlated with serum folate and blood urea nitrogen. An hypothesis of low birth weight is presented.