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Open Access 16-05-2024 | Premature Birth | Original Article

Investigating the Black Birth Experience: A Race-Stratified Analysis of Preterm Birth Risk and Exposure to Metropolitan Statistical Area-Level Police-Related Deaths, US 2018–2019

Authors: Lauren Dyer, Jé Judson, Jaquelyn L. Jahn, Maeve Wallace

Published in: Journal of Urban Health | Issue 3/2024

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Abstract

Police-related violence may be a source of chronic stress underlying entrenched racial inequities in reproductive health in the USA. Using publicly available data on police-related fatalities, we estimated total and victim race-specific rates of police-related fatalities (deaths per 100,000 population) in 2018–2019 for Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) and counties within MSAs in the USA. Rates were linked to data on live births by maternal MSA and county of residence. We fit adjusted log-Poisson models with generalized estimating equations and cluster-robust standard errors to estimate the relative risk of preterm birth associated with the middle and highest tertiles of police-related fatalities compared to the lowest tertile. We included a test for heterogeneity by maternal race/ethnicity and additionally fit race/ethnicity-stratified models for associations with victim race/ethnicity-specific police-related fatality rates. Fully adjusted models indicated significant adverse associations between police-related fatality rates and relative risk of preterm birth for the total population, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic White groups separately. Results confirm the role of fatal police violence as a social determinant of population health outcomes and inequities, including preterm birth.
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Metadata
Title
Investigating the Black Birth Experience: A Race-Stratified Analysis of Preterm Birth Risk and Exposure to Metropolitan Statistical Area-Level Police-Related Deaths, US 2018–2019
Authors
Lauren Dyer
Jé Judson
Jaquelyn L. Jahn
Maeve Wallace
Publication date
16-05-2024
Publisher
Springer US
Keyword
Premature Birth
Published in
Journal of Urban Health / Issue 3/2024
Print ISSN: 1099-3460
Electronic ISSN: 1468-2869
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-024-00871-x

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