Low-Income African-American Mothers’ Perception of Exposure to Racial Discrimination and Infant Birth Weight

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Abstract
We performed a hospital-based case-control study of African-American mothers to explore the relation between a mother’s perception of exposure to racial discrimination during pregnancy and very low birth weight. We administered a structured questionnaire to low-income mothers of very low birth weight (2500 gm; N = 60) infants. The unadjusted and adjusted odds ratio of very low birth weight for maternal exposure to racial discrimination were 1.9 (0.5–6.6) and 3.2 (0.9–11.3), respectively. We conclude that maternal perception of exposure to racial discrimination during pregnancy may be associated with very low birth weight in their infants.