Abstract
Objectives To explore associations between race, nativity, and low birth weight (LBW) among Latina and non-Latina women, with special attention to the Black Latina subgroup. Methods Using US natality data from 2011 to 2013, we designed a population-based study to compare LBW (< 2500 g) rates across six groups of women with self-identified race (n =" 7,865,264)-White" and black latina, foreign-born and us-born; non-latina black; and non-latina white-creating 4 models for analysis: unadjusted (model 1) and adjusted for sociodemographic factors (model 2), sociodemographic plus medical risk factors (model 3), and model 3 factors plus smoking (model 4). results infant lbw rate for black latinas (7.9%) was higher than white latinas (5.6%) and varied by nativity: us-born (8.9%) versus foreign-born (6.1%). among all study groups, us-born black latinas' lbw rate (8.9%) was second only to non-latina blacks (11.0%). in unadjusted model 1, us-born black latinas had 81% (odds ratio [or]: 1.81; 95% confidence interval [ci]: 1.74-1.88) and foreign-born black latinas had 22% (or: 1.22; 95% ci 1.15-1.29) higher odds of lbw than non-latina white women (reference group). however, in model 2, ors for foreign-born black latinas were nearly identical to non-latina whites (or: 1.03; 95% ci 0.97-1.1), while us-born black latinas' odds were still 47% higher (or: 1.47; 95% ci 1.42-1.53). model 3 ors for each group were similar to model 2. conclusions for practice a significant subgroup of latina women self-identify as black, and their lbw rates are higher than white latinas. black latinas born in the united states fare worse than their foreign-born counterparts, implicating negative effects of black race specific to the us context.>
