Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
California Preterm Birth Initiative, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
Stress Health. 2020 Apr;36(2):213-219. doi: 10.1002/smi.2922. Epub 2020 Jan 23.
Research supports that exposure to stressors (e.g., perceived stress and racism) during pregnancy can negatively impact the immune system, which may lead to infection and ultimately increases the risk for having a preterm or low-birthweight infant. It is well known that Black women report higher levels of stressors at multiple timepoints across pregnancy compared with women of all other racial and ethnic groups. This study addresses gaps in the literature by describing pregnant and early post-partum Black women's exposures to structural racism and self-reported experiences of racial discrimination, and the extent to which these factors are related. We used a cross-sectional study design to collect data related to exposures to racism from pregnant and early post-partum Black women residing in Oakland, California, from January 2016 to December 2017. Comparative analysis revealed that living in highly deprived race + income neighborhoods was associated with experiencing racial discrimination in three or more situational domains (p = .01). Findings show that Black women are exposed to high levels of racism that may have negative impacts on maternal health outcomes.
研究表明，孕妇暴露于应激源（例如，感知到的压力和种族主义）会对免疫系统产生负面影响，从而导致感染，并最终增加早产或低出生体重儿的风险。众所周知，与所有其他种族和族裔的女性相比，黑人女性在怀孕期间的多个时间点报告的应激源水平更高。本研究通过描述孕妇和产后早期黑人女性面临的结构性种族主义和自我报告的种族歧视经历，以及这些因素之间的关联程度，填补了文献中的空白。我们使用横断面研究设计，从 2016 年 1 月至 2017 年 12 月，在加利福尼亚州奥克兰收集了与暴露于种族主义相关的数据。比较分析表明，生活在高度贫困的种族+收入社区与在三个或更多情境领域经历种族歧视有关（p=0.01）。研究结果表明，黑人女性面临着高水平的种族主义，这可能对产妇健康结果产生负面影响。
