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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) An erratum has been published All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2004.051441v2 95/12/2218    most recent Submit a response Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (3) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Guendelman, S. Articles by Hosang, N. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Guendelman, S. Articles by Hosang, N. Related Collections Birth Outcomes Pregnancy Hispanics/Latinos Women's Health

Sylvia Guendelman, PhD, Dorothy Thornton, PhD, Jeffrey Gould, MD, MPH and Nap Hosang, MD, MPH, MBA

S. Guendelman is with the Maternal and Child Health Program, University of California School of Public Health, Berkeley. D. Thornton is with the Division of Community Health and Human Development, University of California School of Public Health. J. Gould is with the Department of Perinatal Epidemiology and Health Outcomes Research Unit, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California. N. Hosang is with the Department of Obstetrics, Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Hayward, California, and the Maternal and Child Health Program, University of California School of Public Health.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Sylvia Guendelman, PhD, Maternal and Child Health Program, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, 406 Warren Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-7360 (e-mail: sylviag{at}uclink.berkeley.edu).

Objectives. To assess maternal health disparities, we compared maternal morbidities during labor and delivery among Mexican-born and US-born White, non-Latina women residing in California.

Methods. This population-based study used linked hospital discharge and birth certificate data for 1996–1998 (862723 deliveries). We calculated the frequency, and observed and adjusted odds ratios for obstetric complications. Covariates included maternal age, parity, education, prenatal care initiation and payment source, and hospital quality of care.

Results. Approximately 1 in 5 deliveries resulted in a obstetric complication. After control for covariates, Mexican-born women were significantly less likely to have 1 or more maternal morbidities than White, non-Latina women but more likely to have complications that reflect the quality of intrapartum care.

Conclusions. Maternal morbidities during labor and delivery are a substantial burden for women in California. The favorable overall outcome of Mexican-born women over US-born White, non-Latinas is surprising given their lower educational attainment, relative poverty, and greater barriers to health care access. The favorable outcomes obscure vulnerabilities in those complications that are sensitive to the quality of intrapartum care.