AFRICAN-AMERICAN MOTHERS PERCEPTION OF THEIR RESIDENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL, STRESSFUL LIFE EVENTS, AND VERY-LOW-BIRTH-WEIGHT

We performed a hospital-based case-control study of African-American m others ts explore the relation between a mothers perception of her own residential environment and very low birthweight. We administered a s tructured questionnaire to mothers of very-low-birthweight (<1,500 gm; N = 28) and critically ill non-low-birthweight (>2,500 gm; N = 52) in fants. The groups had similar sociodemographic characteristics. The va st majority of participants were unmarried and had no private medical insurance. The odds ratios of very low birthweight fluctuated between 1.7 and 3.2 for African-American mothers who rated their neighbourhood s (in terms of police protection protection of property, personal safe ty, friendliness, delivery of municipal services, cleanliness, quietne ss, and schools) unfavorably. Additionally, the odds ratio of very low birthweight for mothers exposed to three or more stressful life event s during pregnancy mas 3.1 (95% confidence interval = 1.2-8.2). We con clude that African-American mothers' perception of their residential e nvironment and frequency of stressful life events are associated with very low birthweight in their infants.