Multilevel analysis of small area violent crime and preterm birth in a racially diverse urban area
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Lauren C. Messina
Abstract
Background: Preterm birth results in considerable morbidity and mortality among children in the USA. The risk of preterm birth is not fully explained by individual maternal risk factors, although there is some evidence that adverse environmental factors, such as living in a high crime neighborhood, may contribute to an increased risk of preterm birth.
Methods: We used multilevel logistic regression to investigate the association between census block group violent crime rate and the probability of preterm birth, controlling for potential individual and neighborhood level confounders. We restricted our analysis to births within the City of Atlanta, GA in the years 1998–2006.
Results: Preterm births comprised 13.1% of 50,665 births in Atlanta. Violent crime rates at the block group level showed significant interaction with maternal age. The odds of preterm birth among women in the highest two violent crime quartiles were increased compared with women in the lowest violent crime quartile among women 30 years and older; there was no association between living in the highest block group crime quartiles and preterm birth compared with living in the lowest crime quartile among women younger than 30 years.
Conclusions: There is evidence of an association between living in a high crime area and an increased risk of preterm birth for women over 30 years of age, when considering violent crime rate at the block group scale.
The authors wish to acknowledge the support of the Georgia Department of Public Health, Office of Health Indicators for Planning for their assistance in providing the birth data. We are also indebted to Drs. Michael Rich and Moshe Haspel of the Emory University Department of Political Science for their assistance in accessing Atlanta Police Department crime data.
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©2013 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
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- Editorial
- Break the cycle of environmental health disparities in vulnerable children
- Reviews
- Effectiveness of foreign food aid initiatives at addressing child malnutrition and the future of United States food aid policy
- Interventions to improve access to fresh food in vulnerable communities: a review of the literature
- Original Articles
- Disparities in arsenic exposure among children and adolescents in the United States
- The use of home-based caregiver assessment to improve children’s health: a pilot project
- There’s a hole in the bucket: rethinking the role of community collected data in environmental justice movements
- Multilevel analysis of small area violent crime and preterm birth in a racially diverse urban area
- Cyclopedia: sustaining a positive youth development program through community partnership
- Traffic-related air pollution and pediatric asthma in Durham County, North Carolina
- Breaking the cycle through better school siting: a collaborative project to facilitate the effective use of EPA’s guidelines with Georgia’s educational leaders
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Masthead
- Editorial
- Break the cycle of environmental health disparities in vulnerable children
- Reviews
- Effectiveness of foreign food aid initiatives at addressing child malnutrition and the future of United States food aid policy
- Interventions to improve access to fresh food in vulnerable communities: a review of the literature
- Original Articles
- Disparities in arsenic exposure among children and adolescents in the United States
- The use of home-based caregiver assessment to improve children’s health: a pilot project
- There’s a hole in the bucket: rethinking the role of community collected data in environmental justice movements
- Multilevel analysis of small area violent crime and preterm birth in a racially diverse urban area
- Cyclopedia: sustaining a positive youth development program through community partnership
- Traffic-related air pollution and pediatric asthma in Durham County, North Carolina
- Breaking the cycle through better school siting: a collaborative project to facilitate the effective use of EPA’s guidelines with Georgia’s educational leaders
