SynthesisBMJ global health2022
Racial discrimination and adverse pregnancy outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in BMJ global health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 58 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
58 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Identifying the risk factors of autism spectrum disorders in infants born preterm: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Do Antenatal Interventions Improve Maternal and Perinatal Outcomes for Migrant Women Living in High-Income Countries and What Guidelines Exist for Migrant Women? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Birth (Berkeley, Calif.) · 2025Pooled it
- Interventions to Address Disparities in Perinatal Outcomes by Ethnicity: A Systematic Review.BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology · 2025Pooled it
- Discrimination and risk of spontaneous abortion in a preconception cohort study.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2026Article
- Racial and Ethnic Differences in Nonresponse Rate to Experiences of Discrimination: A Secondary Analysis of the nuMoM2b Dataset.Research in nursing & health · 2026Article
- Breaking the cycle: a review of the impacts of maternal PTSD, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and health disparities among Black women.Maternal health, neonatology and perinatology · 2026Review
- The Voice Unheard: Women's Perception of Maternal Health Care Post-Flint Water Crisis.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- Multilevel Intersectional Social Drivers of Health and Nulliparous Term, Singleton, Vertex Cesarean Delivery.O&G open · 2026Article
- Qualitative Exploration of Black Canadian Parents' Experiences of Having a Preterm Infant and Navigating Racism in the NICU.Journal of advanced nursing · 2026Article
- Experiences of Discrimination and DNA Methylation Among Black Nulliparous Women.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- A Qualitative Study of the Impact of Police Violence on Black Birthing People.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- The neglected role of partner treatment in congenital syphilis control in Brazil: nationwide evidence from 2007 to 2023.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2026Article
- Maternal Depressive Symptomology and Small-for-Gestational-Age: Do Coping Efforts Moderate the Relationship?Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes Among Women with Early Onset Cancer in the United States.Cancers · 2026Article
- Judge Me Not: Exploring Black Mothers' Perceptions of Maternal Health Care Services and Structural Racism in South Carolina.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- Optimal Timing of Term Births by Maternal Region of Birth: Elective Induction of Labor Compared to Expectant Management in Victoria, Australia.Birth (Berkeley, Calif.) · 2026Article
- Applying mixtures methodology to analyze how exposure to structural racism and economic disadvantage affect perinatal health outcomes: an ECHO study.American journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Self-reported experiences of interpersonal racial discrimination and maternal and neonatal health: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2026Review
- Advancing equity in perinatal PTSD: a systemic trauma framework for written exposure therapy.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Disparities in Location of Service and Management of Early Pregnancy Loss: A Retrospective Cohort Study.BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionRacial discrimination has been consistently linked to various health outcomes and health disparities, including studies associating racial discrimination with patterns of racial disparities in adverse pregnancy outcomes. To expand our knowledge, this systematic review and meta-analysis assesses all available evidence on the association between self-reported racial discrimination and adverse pregnancy outcomes.
methodsEight electronic databases were searched without language or time restrictions, through January 2022. Data were extracted using a pre-piloted extraction tool. Quality assessment was conducted using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS), and across all included studies using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. Random effects meta-analyses were performed on preterm birth and small for gestational age. Heterogenicity was assessed using Cochran's χ
resultsOf 13 597 retrieved records, 24 articles were included. Studies included cohort, case-control and cross-sectional designs and were predominantly conducted in the USA (n=20). Across all outcomes, significant positive associations (between experiencing racial discrimination and an adverse pregnancy event) and non-significant associations (trending towards positive) were reported, with no studies reporting significant negative associations. The overall pooled odds ratio (OR) for preterm birth was 1.40 (95% CI 1.17 to 1.68; 13 studies) and for small for gestational age it was 1.23 (95% CI 0.76 to 1.99; 3 studies). When excluding low-quality studies, the preterm birth OR attenuated to 1.31 (95% CI 1.08 to 1.59; 10 studies). Similar results were obtained across sensitivity and subgroup analyses, indicating a significant positive association.
conclusionThese results suggest that racial discrimination has adverse impacts on pregnancy outcomes. This is supported by the broader literature on racial discrimination as a risk factor for adverse health outcomes. To further explore this association and underlying mechanisms, including mediating and moderating factors, higher quality evidence from large ethnographically diverse cohorts is needed.
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