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American Journal of Public Health, 10.2105/AJPH.2004.049312

Research and Practice

Associations of Maternal Age- and Parity-Related Factors With Trends in Low-Birthweight Rates: United States, 1980 Through 2000

Quanhe Yang 1*, Sander Greenland 2, W. Dana Flanders 3

1 CDC
2 Departments of Epidemiology and Statistics, University of California, Los Angeles
3 Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Emory University

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: qay0{at}cdc.gov.


  Abstract

Objectives. We assessed the effects of changes in the maternal age-parity distribution and age- and parity-specific low-birthweight rates on low birthweight trends in the United States.

Methods. We used natality file data from 1980 through 2000 to assess very-low-birthweight and low-birthweight rates among singleton live-born infants.

Results. Changes in age- and parity-specific low-birthweight rates were the main contributor to the overall trend in rates. However, changes in the age- parity distribution, primarily delayed childbearing, had a smaller but noticeable impact. The very-low-birthweight rate increased 27% among Black women, and changes in the age-parity distribution were associated with, on average, more than 20% of the increased rate during the 1990s. Among Hispanic and non-Hispanic White women, on average, more than 10% of the rate increase observed during the 1990s was associated with changes in the age-parity distribution.

Conclusions. Assuming minimal changes in age-specific rates, delayed childbearing may play an increasingly important role in low-birthweight trends in the United States.

Key Words: Epidemiology, Maternal and Infant Health, Birth Outcomes, Race/Ethnicity




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