The link can be broken between low birth weight and segregation, according to new research from the Center for Community Health Equity, a collaboration of DePaul University and Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. (Image courtesy of iStock)CHICAGO –
A new study reveals that low birth weight is strongly associated with racial and
ethnic segregation in Chicago neighborhoods. In Toronto, however, communities
with high proportions of racial and ethnic minorities did not have greater rates
of low birth weight. Researchers from the Center for Community Health Equity, a
collaboration of DePaul University and Rush University Medical Center in
Chicago, believe the findings can inform future research on the root causes of
health inequities.
“Toronto
has broken the link between segregation and low birth weight. It sets up an
example of what can be accomplished when health equity is a priority,” said
lead researcher Fernando De Maio, co-director of the center and an associate
professor of sociology at DePaul. The
researchers chose two cities with very different health care systems and
histories of disadvantage “to show how the relationships between social
determinants of health and low birth weight can vary from place to place.”
The
study, “Racial/ethnic minority segregation and low birth weight: a comparative
study of Chicago and Toronto community-level indicators,” will be published in
a forthcoming issue of “Critical Public Health” and is now available online at http://bit.ly/CCHE_LBW.
Co-authors
from the Center for Community Health Equity include center co-director Dr. Raj
C. Shah, associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine and the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center and Dr. David Ansell,
senior vice president for community health equity of Rush University Medical
Center; and Kellie Schipper and Realino Gurdiel of DePaul University. Researchers
found:
- The rate of low birth weight
was higher overall in Chicago. The average community proportion of low birth
weight deliveries in Chicago is 10.1, while in Toronto it is 7.3
- In Toronto, the rates of low birth
weight did not vary significantly across communities. Places where most
residents are minorities had rates of low birth weight that were similar to
areas with low minority populations. Other
social determinants of health, including unemployment and low educational
attainment, were not associated with rates of low birth weight in Toronto.
- Segregation is more pronounced in
Chicago, with more areas that have a high percentage of a single racial or
ethnic population. As De Maio described: “The more segregated a community is in
Chicago, the worse the outcome for low birth weight.”
- Communities in Chicago with highly
segregated African-American populations fared the worst, while many segregated Latino
communities “did fine” and had rates that were in-line with the rest of the
city, De Maio explained.
Researchers
compared publicly available community health data from Chicago and Toronto to
examine low birth weight within specific neighborhoods and communities. This uncommon
approach allowed researchers to “keep the differences between neighborhoods
present, while comparing across cities,” explained De Maio.
While the
study does not reveal the causes of low birth weight in either city, De Maio
believes it can be a starting point in examining “structural determinants of
health” such as access to health care and systemic segregation and racism. “There’s
a shift now in the literature, and researchers increasingly recognize it’s not
the color of a person’s skin, but the social process of racism that can influence
health outcomes,” said De Maio.
As next
steps, researchers plan to compare data from other cities to find if Chicago is
an extreme example or if similar trends exist elsewhere in the U.S. “This
research shows it doesn’t have to be the way that it is, and we can break the
link between factors like segregation and poor health outcomes,” said De Maio.
“It doesn’t show us how to do it just yet, but it shows us it’s possible.”
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Source:
Fernando De Maio
fdemaio@depaul.edu
773-325-4431
Media Contact:
Kristin Claes
Mathews
kristin.mathews@depaul.edu
312-362-7735