Sai Ma1. 1. Pardee Rand Graduate School, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA. sma@jhsph.edu
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: I sought to identify whether there were associations between paternal race/ethnicity and birth outcomes among infants with parents of same- and mixed-races/ethnicities. METHODS: Using the National Center for Health Statistics 2001 linked birth and infant death file, I compared birth outcomes of infants of White mothers and fathers of different races/ethnicities by matching and weighting racial/ethnic groups following a propensity scoring approach so other characteristics were distributed identically. I applied the same analysis to infants of Black parents and infants with a Black mother and White father. RESULTS: Variation in risk factors and outcomes was found in infants of White mothers by paternal race/ethnicity. After propensity score weighting, the disparities in outcomes by paternal or parental race/ethnicity could be largely attributed to nonracial parental characteristics. Infants whose paternal race/ethnicity was unreported on their birth certificates had the worst outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: The use of maternal race/ethnicity to refer to infant race/ethnicity in research is problematic. The effects of maternal race/ethnicity on birth outcomes are estimated to be much larger than that of paternal race/ethnicity after I controlled for all covariates. Not listing a father on the birth certificate had a strong association with outcomes, which might be a source of bias in existing data and a marker for identifying infants at risk.
OBJECTIVES: I sought to identify whether there were associations between paternal race/ethnicity and birth outcomes among infants with parents of same- and mixed-races/ethnicities. METHODS: Using the National Center for Health Statistics 2001 linked birth and infant death file, I compared birth outcomes of infants of White mothers and fathers of different races/ethnicities by matching and weighting racial/ethnic groups following a propensity scoring approach so other characteristics were distributed identically. I applied the same analysis to infants of Black parents and infants with a Black mother and White father. RESULTS: Variation in risk factors and outcomes was found in infants of White mothers by paternal race/ethnicity. After propensity score weighting, the disparities in outcomes by paternal or parental race/ethnicity could be largely attributed to nonracial parental characteristics. Infants whose paternal race/ethnicity was unreported on their birth certificates had the worst outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: The use of maternal race/ethnicity to refer to infant race/ethnicity in research is problematic. The effects of maternal race/ethnicity on birth outcomes are estimated to be much larger than that of paternal race/ethnicity after I controlled for all covariates. Not listing a father on the birth certificate had a strong association with outcomes, which might be a source of bias in existing data and a marker for identifying infants at risk.
Authors: Anna Palatnik; Emma Garacci; Rebekah J Walker; Mukoso N Ozieh; Joni S Williams; Leonard E Egede Journal: Am J Perinatol Date: 2019-12-13 Impact factor: 1.862
Authors: Roman Pabayo; Daniel M Cook; Guy Harling; Anastasia Gunawan; Natalie A Rosenquist; Peter Muennig Journal: BMC Public Health Date: 2019-10-22 Impact factor: 3.295