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This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2004.049312v1 96/5/856    most recent Submit a response View responses 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 HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (5) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Yang, Q. Articles by Flanders, W. D. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Yang, Q. Articles by Flanders, W. D. Related Collections Epidemiology Birth Outcomes Other Maternal and Infant Health Other Race/Ethnicity

Quanhe Yang, PhD, Sander Greenland, DrPH and W. Dana Flanders, MD, ScD

Quanhe Yang is with the Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Ga. Sander Greenland is with the Departments of Epidemiology and Statistics, University of California, Los Angeles. W. Dana Flanders is with the Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Ga.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Quanhe Yang, PhD, Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd, Mail Stop E-86, Atlanta, GA 30333 (e-mail: qay0{at}cdc.gov).

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 His-panic 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.

This article has been cited by other articles:

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				Q. Yang, S. Greenland, and W. D. Flanders YANG ET AL. RESPOND Am J Public Health, November 1, 2006; 96(11): 1899 - 1901. [Full Text] [PDF]

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