Re: “Preterm Delivery Rates in North Carolina: Are They Really Declining among Non-Hispanic African Americans?”
Open Access
- 15 June 2005
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in American Journal of Epidemiology
- Vol. 161 (12) , 1181
- https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwi144
Abstract
Vahratian et al. (1) conclude that the recently observed decline in preterm birth among non-Hispanic African Americans in North Carolina is an artifact related to temporal reductions in the misclassification of full-term births (as preterm births). We are concerned that the bimodal birth weight distribution problem identified by Vahratian et al. (1) in 1989 was observed at 28–31 weeks' gestation but not at 32–36 weeks. This is important, because most of the decline in preterm birth among non-Hispanic African Americans in North Carolina and the United States (2–4) was observed at 32–36 weeks' gestation (from 14.4 percent in 1989 to 12.9 percent in 1999 (1)) rather than at 28–31 weeks' gestation (from 2.2 percent in 1989 to 1.9 percent in 1999 (1)).Keywords
This publication has 7 references indexed in Scilit:
- Trends in twin preterm birth subtypes and impact on perinatal mortality: United States, 1989 through 2000American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2004
- Heterogeneity of Perinatal Outcomes in the Preterm Delivery SyndromeObstetrics & Gynecology, 2004
- Preterm Delivery Rates in North Carolina: Are They Really Declining among Non-Hispanic African Americans?American Journal of Epidemiology, 2004
- Obstetric intervention, stillbirth, and preterm birthSeminars in Perinatology, 2002
- Trends in fetal growth among singleton gestations in the United States and Canada, 1985 through 1998Seminars in Perinatology, 2002
- Trends in Preterm Birth and Neonatal Mortality among Blacks and Whites in the United States from 1989 to 1997American Journal of Epidemiology, 2001
- A united states national reference for fetal growthPublished by Wolters Kluwer Health ,2001