Reichman Nancy E, Teitler Julien O, Hamilton Erin R
Department of Pediatrics, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, USA.
Health Place. 2009 Sep;15(3):784-91. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2009.01.001. Epub 2009 Jan 29.
We employed multilevel models to estimate the effects of neighborhood racial composition on birthweight, using a national urban sample of 1871 births to unmarried black mothers from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing birth cohort study. The mothers lived in 1181 census tracts with substantial variability in racial composition and poverty. Controlling for individual characteristics, census tract poverty, and city characteristics, the proportion black in the mother's census tract had no linear association with infant birthweight. There was an observed non-linear association, but the pattern was inconsistent with prevailing theories of how neighborhoods affect health. The results were robust to alternative measures, covariates, and sample restrictions and when accounting for the length of time the mother resided in her neighborhood.
我们使用多层次模型来估计社区种族构成对出生体重的影响,数据来自脆弱家庭与儿童健康出生队列研究中全国城市地区1871名未婚黑人母亲的生育样本。这些母亲居住在1181个人口普查区,这些地区的种族构成和贫困程度差异很大。在控制了个体特征、人口普查区贫困程度和城市特征后,母亲所在人口普查区的黑人比例与婴儿出生体重没有线性关联。观察到存在非线性关联,但这种模式与社区如何影响健康的主流理论不一致。这些结果在采用替代测量方法、协变量和样本限制时,以及在考虑母亲在其社区居住的时长时都是稳健的。