ReviewMaternal and child health journal2003
Racial and ethnic disparities in birth outcomes: a life-course perspective.
Review in Maternal and child health journal, 2003. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 473 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
473 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Structural racism and adverse maternal health outcomes: A systematic review.Health & place · 2022Pooled it
- Racial discrimination and adverse pregnancy outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ global health · 2022Pooled it
- Social Determinants of Pregnancy-Related Mortality and Morbidity in the United States: A Systematic Review.Obstetrics and gynecology · 2020Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Support during pregnancy for women at increased risk of low birthweight babies.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Trial
- Spatial Logic and Evolutionary Innovation in Human Placentation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Glaring Gaps: a Research Agenda Focused on the Intersection of Black Maternal Health and Toxic Stress.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- Critical Windows for Perinatal Health: Evaluating the Impacts of Timing of Poverty Alleviation Benefits.American journal of preventive medicine · 2026Article
- Race, Place and Preterm Birth.Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology · 2026Article
- Listening to Unheard Voices: Addressing Systemic Racism to Improve Maternity Care for Black Women After Perinatal Loss.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Developing an Intergenerational Model of Structural Racism Exposure among Women in Black Families in South Carolina, 1989-2020.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- Health System Community Partnership to Design an Online Resource to Address Perinatal Information Needs for Black Families: Action Research Study.JMIR pediatrics and parenting · 2026Article
- Psychological Impacts of Premature Birth on Mothers: A Literature Review.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- The NICU doula: family-centered support in the neonatal intensive care unit.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Article
- Social determinants impact both viral infections and brain development.Pediatric research · 2025Review
- Obstetric Triage as a Gateway to Social Care: Social Needs, Disparities, and Implications for Advancing Equity.Delaware journal of public health · 2025Article
- Spectrum of Cervical Insufficiency: Management Strategies from Asymptomatic Shortening to Emergent Membrane Prolapse.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- The influence of maternal life course exposure to neighborhood affluence and disadvantage on Black/White disparities in adverse birth outcomes in South Carolina.American journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- African-American Women's Early-Life Exposure to Neighborhood Mortgage Discrimination and Preterm Birth Rates: A Population-Based Study.Maternal and child health journal · 2025Article
413 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIn the United States, Black infants have significantly worse birth outcomes than do White infants. The cause of these persisting racial disparities remains unexplained. Most extant studies focus on differential exposures to protective and risk factors during pregnancy, such as current socioeconomic status, maternal risky behaviors, prenatal care, psychosocial stress, or perinatal infections. These risk factors during pregnancy, however, do not adequately account for the disparities.
methodsWe conducted a literature review for longitudinal models of health disparities, and presented a synthesis of two leading models, using a life-course perspective. Traditional risk factors during pregnancy are then reexamined within their life-course context. We conclude with a discussion of the limitations and implications of the life-course perspective for future research, practice, and policy development.
resultsTwo leading longitudinal models of health disparities were identified and discussed. The early programming model posits that exposures in early life could influence future reproductive potential. The cumulative pathways model conceptualizes decline in reproductive health resulting from cumulative wear and tear to the body's allostatic systems. We propose a synthesis of these two models, using the life-course perspective. Disparities in birth outcomes are the consequences of differential developmental trajectories set forth by early life experiences and cumulative allostatic load over the life course.
conclusionsFuture research on racial disparities in birth outcomes needs to examine differential exposures to risk and protective factors not only during pregnancy, but over the life course of women. Eliminating disparities requires interventions and policy development that are more longitudinally and contextually integrated than currently prevail.
Indexed as
Identifiers
12710797What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.