Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia.
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia; Center for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia.
Ann Epidemiol. 2015 Feb;25(2):120-5. doi: 10.1016/j.annepidem.2014.11.021. Epub 2014 Nov 28.
On the basis of a neighborhood deprivation index (NDI), this study aims to examine the association between neighborhood deprivation and preterm birth (PTB) by applying propensity score matching (PSM) methods.
NDI was calculated for all census tracts in South Carolina based on the US Census data. Live births in South Carolina during 2008 to 2009 (n = 98,456) were assigned to an NDI quartile group based on residential addresses. PSM was used to create matched pairs by NDI quartiles to avoid any potential inference on imbalanced data. The differences of prevalence of PTB were calculated for exposed and reference deprivation groups.
Neighborhood deprivation was higher among blacks than whites. The overall prevalence of PTB was 8.5% for whites and 12.6% for blacks. Living in neighborhoods with higher deprivation was associated with increased risk of PTB among blacks compared with living in neighborhoods with lower deprivation among blacks. However, random-effect regression models showed that the most deprived whites experienced 1.13 times the odds of having PTB than the least deprived whites.
The racial disparities in adverse birth outcomes might be partially explained by neighborhood deprivation in South Carolina. PSM may be an appropriate approach to avoid imbalanced data inferences.
本研究基于邻里剥夺指数（NDI），采用倾向评分匹配（PSM）方法，考察邻里剥夺与早产（PTB）之间的关系。
根据美国人口普查数据，为南卡罗来纳州的所有普查区计算 NDI。根据居住地址，将南卡罗来纳州 2008 年至 2009 年期间的活产儿分配到 NDI 四分位组。采用 PSM 按 NDI 四分位组创建匹配对，以避免对不平衡数据产生任何潜在推断。计算暴露和参考剥夺组中 PTB 流行率的差异。
黑人的邻里剥夺程度高于白人。白人的 PTB 总体流行率为 8.5%，黑人的 PTB 总体流行率为 12.6%。与黑人中居住在贫困程度较低的社区相比，居住在贫困程度较高的社区与黑人中 PTB 的风险增加相关。然而，随机效应回归模型显示，最贫困的白人发生 PTB 的几率是最贫困白人的 1.13 倍。
南卡罗来纳州的邻里剥夺在一定程度上解释了不良出生结局的种族差异。PSM 可能是避免不平衡数据推断的一种合适方法。
