Top

Maternal and Child Health Journal

Published in:

01-09-2019 | Premature Birth

Neighborhood Gun Violence and Birth Outcomes in Chicago

Authors: Nana Matoba, Margarita Reina, Nikhil Prachand, Matthew M. Davis, James W. Collins

Published in: Maternal and Child Health Journal | Issue 9/2019

Abstract

Objectives

To examine the association between gun violence and birth outcomes among women in Chicago.

Methods

Using a 5-year set of birth files (2011–2015) merged with census and police data, birth outcomes including low birth weight (LBW, BW < 2500 g), preterm birth (PTB, < 37 weeks gestation), and small-for-gestational-age (SGA, BW < 10th percentile) were examined among non-Hispanic (NH) white, NH black, and Hispanic women in Chicago. Gun violence rates were categorized into tertiles. Multilevel, multiple logistic regression examined the effects of gun violence and race/ethnicity on birth outcomes.

Results

Of 175,065 births, 10.6% of LBW, 10.6% of PTB, and 9.1% of SGA occurred in high violence tertile. Using white women in low violence tertile as reference, the OR for LBW among black women ranged 1.9–2.1 across all tertiles, and 0.8–1.2 among Hispanic women. OR for PTB for black women were 1.6–1.7 and 1.0–1.2 for Hispanic women, and OR for SGA for black women were 1.6–1.7 and for Hispanic women 0.9–1.0.

Conclusions for Practice

In Chicago, race/ethnicity was associated with birth outcomes, regardless of the level of exposure to gun violence, in 2011–2015. The differences in racial/ethnic composition across the violence exposure levels suggest that, rather than gun violence alone, residential segregation and the geographic inequities likely contribute to disparate birth outcomes.

Acevedo-Garcia, D. (2000). Residential segregation and the epidemiology of infectious diseases. Social Science and Medicine, 51(8), 1143–1161.CrossRefPubMed

Ahern, J., Pickett, K. E., Selvin, S., & Abrams, B. (2003). Preterm birth among African American and white women: A multilevel analysis of socioeconomic characteristics and cigarette smoking. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 57(8), 606–611.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Aneshensel, C. S., & Sucoff, C. A. (1996). The neighborhood context of adolescent mental health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 37(4), 293–310.CrossRefPubMed

Bell, J. F., Zimmerman, F. J., Almgren, G. R., Mayer, J. D., & Huebner, C. E. (2006). Birth outcomes among urban African-American women: A multilevel analysis of the role of racial residential segregation. Social Science and Medicine, 63(12), 3030–3045. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2006.08.011.CrossRefPubMed

Bender, D. E., & Castro, D. (2000). Explaining the birth weight paradox: Latina immigrants’ perceptions of resilience and risk. Journal of Immigrant Health, 2(3), 155–173. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009513020506.CrossRefPubMed

Brown, R. (2018). The Mexican drug war and early-life health: The impact of violent crime on birth outcomes. Demography, 55(1), 319–340. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-017-0639-2.CrossRefPubMed

Buekens, P., & Klebanoff, M. (2001). Preterm birth research: From disillusion to the search for new mechanisms. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, 15(Suppl 2), 159–161.CrossRefPubMed

Collins, J. W., Jr., & David, R. J. (1990). The differential effect of traditional risk factors on infant birthweight among blacks and whites in Chicago. American Journal of Public Health, 80(6), 679–681.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

de Smith, M., Goodchild, M. F., & Longley, P. (2006). Geospatial Analysis: A comprehensive guide (2nd ed.). Kibworth: Troubador Publishing Ltd.

Fenton, T. R. (2003). A new growth chart for preterm babies: Babson and Benda’s chart updated with recent data and a new format. BMC Pediatrics, 3, 13. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2431-3-13.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Franzini, L., Ribble, J. C., & Keddie, A. M. (2001). Understanding the Hispanic paradox. Ethnicity and Disease, 11(3), 496–518.PubMed

Geronimus, A. T. (1992). The weathering hypothesis and the health of African-American women and infants: Evidence and speculations. Ethnicity and Disease, 2(3), 207–221.PubMed

Geronimus, A. T., Hicken, M., Keene, D., & Bound, J. (2006). “Weathering” and age patterns of allostatic load scores among blacks and whites in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 96(5), 826–833. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2004.060749.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Hamilton, B. E., Martin, J. A., Osterman, M. J., Curtin, S. C., & Matthews, T. J. (2015). Births: Final data for 2014. National Vital Statistics Reports, 64(12), 1–64.PubMed

Hill, T. D., Ross, C. E., & Angel, R. J. (2005). Neighborhood disorder, psychophysiological distress, and health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 46(2), 170–186. https://doi.org/10.1177/002214650504600204.CrossRefPubMed

Huynh, M., Parker, J. D., Harper, S., Pamuk, E., & Schoendorf, K. C. (2005). Contextual effect of income inequality on birth outcomes. International Journal of Epidemiology, 34(4), 888–895. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyi092.CrossRefPubMed

Janevic, T., Stein, C. R., Savitz, D. A., Kaufman, J. S., Mason, S. M., & Herring, A. H. (2010). Neighborhood deprivation and adverse birth outcomes among diverse ethnic groups. Annals of Epidemiology, 20(6), 445–451. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2010.02.010.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Kaufman, J. S., Dole, N., Savitz, D. A., & Herring, A. H. (2003). Modeling community-level effects on preterm birth. Annals of Epidemiology, 13(5), 377–384.CrossRefPubMed

Kogan, M. D. (1995). Social causes of low birth weight. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 88(11), 611–615.PubMedPubMedCentral

Koppensteiner, M. M., & Manacorda, M. (2016). Violence and birth outcomes: Evidence from homicides in Brazil. Journal of Development Economics, 119, 16–33.CrossRef

Kramer, M. S. (1987). Determinants of low birth weight: Methodological assessment and meta-analysis. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 65(5), 663–737.PubMedPubMedCentral

Kramer, M. R., Cooper, H. L., Drews-Botsch, C. D., Waller, L. A., & Hogue, C. R. (2010). Metropolitan isolation segregation and Black-White disparities in very preterm birth: A test of mediating pathways and variance explained. Social Science and Medicine, 71(12), 2108–2116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.09.011.CrossRefPubMed

Kramer, M. R., & Hogue, C. R. (2009). What causes racial disparities in very preterm birth? A biosocial perspective. Epidemiologic Reviews, 31, 84–98. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajerev/mxp003.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Krause, N. (1993). Neighborhood deterioration and social isolation in later life. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 36(1), 9–38. https://doi.org/10.2190/UBR2-JW3W-LJEL-J1Y5.CrossRefPubMed

Maldonado, G., & Greenland, S. (1993). Simulation study of confounder-selection strategies. American Journal of Epidemiology, 138(11), 923–936.CrossRefPubMed

Mansour, H., & Rees, D. I. (2012). Armed conflict and birth weight: Evidence from the al-Aqsa Intifada. Journal of Development Economics, 99(1), 190–199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2011.12.005.CrossRef

Martin, J. A., Hamilton, B. E., & Osterman, M. J. K. (2017). Births in the United States, 2016. NCHS Data Brief, 287, 1–8.

Masi, C. M., Hawkley, L. C., Piotrowski, Z. H., & Pickett, K. E. (2007). Neighborhood economic disadvantage, violent crime, group density, and pregnancy outcomes in a diverse, urban population. Social Science and Medicine, 65(12), 2440–2457. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.07.014.CrossRefPubMed

Matthews, T. J., MacDorman, M. F., & Thoma, M. E. (2015). Infant mortality statistics from the 2013 period linked birth/infant death data set. National Vital Statistics Reports, 64(9), 1–30.PubMed

McEwen, B. S., & Seeman, T. (1999). Protective and damaging effects of mediators of stress. Elaborating and testing the concepts of allostasis and allostatic load. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 896, 30–47.CrossRefPubMed

McGlade, M. S., Saha, S., & Dahlstrom, M. E. (2004). The Latina paradox: An opportunity for restructuring prenatal care delivery. American Journal of Public Health, 94(12), 2062–2065.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Messer, L. C., Kaufman, J. S., Dole, N., Herring, A., & Laraia, B. A. (2006). Violent crime exposure classification and adverse birth outcomes: A geographically-defined cohort study. International Journal of Health Geographics, 5, 22. https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-072X-5-22.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Metcalfe, A., Lail, P., Ghali, W. A., & Sauve, R. S. (2011). The association between neighbourhoods and adverse birth outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis of multi-level studies. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, 25(3), 236–245. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3016.2011.01192.x.CrossRefPubMed

Morenoff, J. D. (2003). Neighborhood mechanisms and the spatial dynamics of birth weight. AJS American Journal of Sociology, 108(5), 976–1017.CrossRefPubMed

Murray, J. L., & Bernfield, M. (1988). The differential effect of prenatal care on the incidence of low birth weight among blacks and whites in a prepaid health care plan. New England Journal of Medicine, 319(21), 1385–1391. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJM198811243192105.CrossRefPubMed

Olson, M. E., Diekema, D., Elliott, B. A., & Renier, C. M. (2010). Impact of income and income inequality on infant health outcomes in the United States. Pediatrics, 126(6), 1165–1173. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2009-3378.CrossRefPubMed

Parker, J. D., Schoendorf, K. C., & Kiely, J. L. (1994). Associations between measures of socioeconomic status and low birth weight, small for gestational age, and premature delivery in the United States. Annals of Epidemiology, 4(4), 271–278.CrossRefPubMed

Pearl, M., Braveman, P., & Abrams, B. (2001). The relationship of neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics to birthweight among 5 ethnic groups in California. American Journal of Public Health, 91(11), 1808–1814.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Pickett, K. E., Ahern, J. E., Selvin, S., & Abrams, B. (2002). Neighborhood socioeconomic status, maternal race and preterm delivery: A case-control study. Annals of Epidemiology, 12(6), 410–418.CrossRefPubMed

Rauh, V. A., Andrews, H. F., & Garfinkel, R. S. (2001). The contribution of maternal age to racial disparities in birthweight: A multilevel perspective. American Journal of Public Health, 91(11), 1815–1824.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Roberts, E. M. (1997). Neighborhood social environments and the distribution of low birthweight in Chicago. American Journal of Public Health, 87(4), 597–603.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Ross, C. E., & Mirowsky, J. (2001). Neighborhood disadvantage, disorder, and health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 42(3), 258–276.CrossRefPubMed

Schempf, A. H., Kaufman, J. S., Messer, L. C., & Mendola, P. (2011). The neighborhood contribution to black-white perinatal disparities: An example from two north Carolina counties, 1999-2001. American Journal of Epidemiology, 174(6), 744–752. https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwr128.CrossRefPubMed

Seeman, T. E., Singer, B. H., Rowe, J. W., Horwitz, R. I., & McEwen, B. S. (1997). Price of adaptation–allostatic load and its health consequences. MacArthur studies of successful aging. Archives of Internal Medicine, 157(19), 2259–2268.CrossRefPubMed

Walker, G. N., McLone, S., Mason, M., & Sheehan, K. (2016). Rates of firearm homicide by Chicago region, age, sex, and race/ethnicity, 2005–2010. Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, 81(4 Suppl 1), S48–S53. https://doi.org/10.1097/TA.0000000000001176.CrossRefPubMed

Wallace, M. E., & Harville, E. W. (2013). Allostatic load and birth outcomes among white and black women in New Orleans. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 17(6), 1025–1029. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-012-1083-y.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Warr, M. (1994). Public perceptions and reactions to violent offending and victimization. In R. J. Reiss (Ed.), Understanding and preventing violence (Vol. 4, pp. 1–66). Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Wilcox, M. A., Smith, S. J., Johnson, I. R., Maynard, P. V., & Chilvers, C. E. (1995). The effect of social deprivation on birthweight, excluding physiological and pathological effects. British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 102(11), 918–924.CrossRefPubMed

Wintemute, G. J. (2015). The epidemiology of firearm violence in the twenty-first century United States. Annual Review of Public Health, 36, 5–19. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031914-122535.CrossRefPubMed

Title: Neighborhood Gun Violence and Birth Outcomes in Chicago
Authors: Nana Matoba
Margarita Reina
Nikhil Prachand
Matthew M. Davis
James W. Collins
Publication date: 01-09-2019
Publisher: Springer US
Keyword: Premature Birth
Published in: Maternal and Child Health Journal / Issue 9/2019
Print ISSN: 1092-7875
Electronic ISSN: 1573-6628
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-019-02765-w

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

Springer Medicine

Neighborhood Gun Violence and Birth Outcomes in Chicago

Abstract

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions for Practice

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions for Practice

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 9/2019

Do Children with Special Health Care Needs with Anxiety have Unmet Health Care Needs? An Analysis of a National Survey

Online Simulated Cases Assess Retention of Virtual Neighborhood Tour Curriculum

Assessing Child Health and Health Care in the U.S. Virgin Islands Using the National Survey of Children’s Health

Key Population Health Outcomes for Children with Medical Complexity: A Systematic Review

Family Separation and Maternal Self-rated Health: Evidence from a Prospective Cohort of Marginalized Mothers in a Canadian Setting

How Do Undiagnosed Symptoms of Maternal Psychological Distress During the Postnatal Period Affect Child Developmental Outcomes?