{"id":245004,"date":"2024-09-13T19:26:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-13T23:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/?post_type=bu-article&#038;p=245004"},"modified":"2024-09-23T10:02:24","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T14:02:24","slug":"neighborhood-childhood-opportunity-linked-to-preterm-birth-in-massachusetts","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2024\/neighborhood-childhood-opportunity-linked-to-preterm-birth-in-massachusetts\/","title":{"rendered":"Lower Neighborhood Opportunity May Increase Risk for Preterm Birth"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin sphnews-block-editorial-leadin is-style-side-by-side has-media has-wider has-flip has-media-focus-center-middle\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container-lockup\">\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-leadin-media\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"2121\" height=\"1414\" src=\"\/sph\/files\/2024\/09\/preterm.jpg\" class=\"\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/09\/preterm.jpg 2121w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/09\/preterm-636x424.jpg 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/09\/preterm-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/09\/preterm-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/09\/preterm-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/09\/preterm-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/09\/preterm-755x503.jpg 755w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/09\/preterm-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/09\/preterm-900x600.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/09\/preterm-450x300.jpg 450w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/09\/preterm-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/09\/preterm-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/09\/preterm-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2121px) 100vw, 2121px\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-outer\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-inner\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wp-prepress-tag\">pregnancy<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"head\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<strong><strong><strong>Lower Neighborhood Opportunity May Increase Risk for Preterm Birth<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"deck\">A new study suggests that neighborhoods with fewer educational, health, environmental, and socioeconomic resources may increase one\u2019s risk for preterm birth and contribute to the racial gap in preterm birth in the Commonwealth.<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar sphnews-prepress-layout-metabar\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">September 13, 2024<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul data-credit-type=\"By\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/authors\/jillian-mckoy\/\">Jillian McKoy<\/a><\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n<p>Preterm birth, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/maternal-infant-health\/preterm-birth\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">defined<\/a> as a live birth before 37 weeks of pregnancy, is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marchofdimes.org\/peristats\/reports\/united-states\/prematurity-profile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">second-leading<\/a> cause of infant mortality in the United States, and one that disproportionately affects Black and Hispanic birthing people. While individual-level factors such as poverty, age, and health status may contribute to racial\/ethnic disparities in preterm birth, researchers believe there are broader structural challenges that may be driving the racial gap in this all-too-common birth complication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A new study led by the School of Public Health examined preterm births in Massachusetts, where <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marchofdimes.org\/peristats\/state-summaries\/massachusetts?lev=1&amp;obj=3&amp;reg=99&amp;slev=4&amp;sreg=25&amp;stop=55&amp;top=3\">1 in 11<\/a> live births are premature, and found that the social characteristics of a birthing parent\u2019s neighborhood is associated with their risk of experiencing an early delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jamanetworkopen\/fullarticle\/2823537\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Published in <em>JAMA Network Open<\/em><\/a>, the study found that more than half of Black and Hispanic infants were born into very low-opportunity neighborhoods, and that babies born into these neighborhoods had a 16-percent greater risk of being born preterm. Researchers assessed neighborhood opportunity level based on a variety of educational, health, environmental, and socioeconomic characteristics identified in the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.diversitydatakids.org\/child-opportunity-index\" target=\"_blank\">Childhood Opportunity Index<\/a> (COI), a widely used composite measure that currently includes 44 indicators by census tract.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The study sheds new light on the health consequences of structural racism and historically discriminatory practices\u2014such as redlining and disproportionate exposures to pollutants\u2014that continue to shape modern-day neighborhood conditions and circumstances. Because neighborhood social opportunity is inequitably distributed by race and ethnicity, the COI serves as a valuable measure of both historic and ongoing structural racism, the researchers say.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur findings suggest that the context of social opportunity has an impact on children\u2019s health before they are even born, and may in part be a driver of persistent racial and ethnic inequities in preterm birth,\u201d says study lead and corresponding author <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/profile\/candice-belanoff\/\">Candice Belanoff<\/a>, clinical associate professor of community health sciences. \u201cThe effect remained after we controlled for factors such as maternal\/birthing parent health and individual social position.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Belanoff and colleagues from SPH, Simmons SSW, the University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC), and Brandeis University (Brandeis) utilized Massachusetts birth certificate data by census tract for more than 260,000 singleton infants born in the Boston, Springfield, and Worcester metropolitan areas from February 2011 to December 2015, to explore possible links between neighborhood opportunity levels and preterm births.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Preterm birth was highest among Black infants at 8.4 percent, followed by Hispanic infants at 7.3 percent, Asian or Pacific Islander infants at 5.8 percent, and White infants at 5.8 percent. Compared to White and Asian or Pacific Islander infants, Black and Hispanic infants were approximately 54 percent more likely to be born into very low child opportunity neighborhoods, compared to White infants (11.8 percent) and Asian or Pacific Islander infants (19.6 percent) Similarly, Black and Hispanic infants were also least likely to be born into very high child opportunity neighborhoods, at 6 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhile many lower opportunity neighborhoods are rich cultural hubs and locations of incredible community activism and power, they still suffer the effects of economic exclusion, they are still closer to toxic environmental exposures, and they still generally feature fewer of the resources that help people flourish across the life course,\u201d Belanoff says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is why it is important to look beyond the individual if we are ever going to reduce or eliminate the racial\/ethnic gap in birth outcomes, says study senior author and SPH alum <a href=\"https:\/\/www.simmons.edu\/people\/joanna-almeida\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Joanna Almeida<\/a>, professor and Eva Whiting White Endowed Chair at Simmons SSW (SSW&#8217;97, SPH&#8217;98). \u201cWe need to address the inequitable distribution of resources and access to neighborhood opportunity in order to move the needle on racial and ethnic inequities in preterm birth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The study was coauthored by SPH alum Adriana Black (SPH&#8217;17), director of health affairs, diversity, equity &amp; inclusion at UIC and a current UIC doctoral student; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/profile\/collette-ncube\/\">Collette Ncube<\/a>, assistant professor of epidemiology; and Dolores Acevedo-Garcia, the Samuel F. and Rose B. Gingold Professor of Human Development and Social Policy at Brandeis and project director of <a href=\"http:\/\/diversitydatakids.org\">diversitydatakids.org<\/a>, the research program that manages the COI.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories is-style-card has-two sphnews-block-editorial-relatedstories\">\n\t\t<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-title\">Related<\/h3>\n\t\t<ul class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-list\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-list-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<article class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-image\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"600\" height=\"362\" src=\"\/sph\/files\/2021\/07\/premature.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"african american infant baby lying on bed while mother hands pull baby up\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-category\"><span>pregnancy<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2021\/asking-the-right-questions-to-help-lower-preterm-births\/\" class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-title-link\">Asking the Right Questions to Help Lower Preterm Births<\/a><\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-date\">July 10, 2021<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Preterm birth, defined as a live birth before 37 weeks of pregnancy, is the second-leading cause of infant mortality in the United States, and one that disproportionately affects Black and Hispanic birthing people. While individual-level factors such as poverty, age, and health status may contribute to racial\/ethnic disparities in preterm birth, researchers believe there are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15205,"featured_media":245009,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[2192,2488,1710,506,2157,1537,2547,3887],"bu-publication":[3516],"sphnews-article-category":[3519,3520,3525,3530,3531,3540],"sphnews-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"profile_tax":[259,3680],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/245004"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245004"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/245004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":245087,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/245004\/revisions\/245087"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245004"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=245004"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-article-category?post=245004"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-topic?post=245004"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=245004"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=245004"},{"taxonomy":"profile_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_tax?post=245004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}