Low Birth Outcomes

Discuss disparities related to ethnic and cultural groups relative to low birth weight infants and preterm births. Describe the impact of extremely low birth weight babies on the family and on the community (short-term and long-term, including economic considerations, on-going care considerations, and co-morbidities associated with prematurity). Identify at least one support service within your community for preterm infants and their family. Provide the link for your colleagues to view. Does the service adequately address needs of this population? Explain your answer.

According to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, “In the United States, nearly thirteen percent of babies are born preterm, and many of these babies also have a low birth weight.” The baby may be put into the NICU for varies reasons. However, the most common reason that a child is put into the NICU is because he or she is

“Compared with European Americans, African American infants experience disproportionately high rates of low birth weight (LBW) and preterm delivery and are more than twice as likely to die during their 1st year of life”(Giscombé, C. L., & Lobel, M., 2005). The infant mortality rate for African Americans is 13.7 deaths per 1000 live births, more than twice the rate (5.7) for White Americans in the U.S. (Kung, Hoyert, Xu, & Murphy, 2008). A lot of the racial disparity in infant mortality can be explained by low birthweight and preterm delivery, which are also disproportionately and often experienced by African Americans (Martin et al., 2007).

One important health disparity is the lack of prenatal care amongst women in socially disadvantaged populations. These predominately include women of minorities, women who have a low income, and the location these women live in. This health disparity is important to address because research has shown that women who receive prenatal care are more likely to conceive babies of a healthy birth weight and have low infant mortality rates than those women who do not receive this prenatal care ("Putting Women 's Health Disparities on the Map," 2009). Therefore, health disparities amongst women in need of prenatal care have lead to preventable infant mortalities amongst women in vulnerable populations. Three reasons why this health disparity is important to address include the following: health disparities in prenatal care lead to lack of access to prenatal care to women in vulnerable populations, there are increased adverse health outcomes for both the infant and mother, and there are excess medical expenses that could otherwise have been prevented. Because “prematurity is the leading cause of newborn death in the United States” (“Healthy Mothers and Healthy babies,” 2013), finding and developing a solution will be extremely beneficial and needs to begin with addressing prenatal care.

Premature birth is an important public health priority in terms of health of women and infants. Every year an estimated 15 million preterm babies are born and this number is still rising (WHO, 2015).In 2014, 1 of every 10 babies born in United States were premature and black infants were 50% more likely to be born premature than white, Hispanic and Asian/Pacific islander infants (CDC,2015). Almost 1 million children die each year due to complications of premature birth (WHO, 2015). Major survivors face lifelong disabilities like learning disabilities, hearing, visual, feeding, digestive, breathing and respiratory problems (CDC, 2015) and low birth weight (March of Dimes, 2014). A major challenge in decreasing the rate of preterm birth is

Discuss disparities related to ethnic and cultural groups relative to low birth weight infants and preterm births.

In the United States, the process of childbirth is far more dangerous for African American women than it is for White women. For African American women, the path to a healthy birth is riddled with barriers. There are many health disparities between the two races. African American women face much higher low-birth and infant mortality rates; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published that although infant mortality rates in the U.S. have dropped by over 10% in the past ten years, a large gap continues to exist between the health of the races during the entire childbirth process. (World Health Organization, 2010) In the United States, Black infants are more than twice as likely to die within the first year of life as a White infant, and this disparity has not seen advancements in the last century. Many of these deaths can be attributed to low birth weight, and preterm birth among black infants.

By launching the “Prematurity Campaign” in which it reports the crisis and help families have to what is consider normal full-term, healthy babies. By launching the Prematurity Campaign to address the crisis and help families have full-term, healthy babies. From depth research has shown prematurity can cause long-term health problems for babies. Premature infants may have a tougher time while learning in school. Most of the post problems arise from incomplete development. The effect of premature birth on language development plays a key role to highlight a series of deficits in preterm low-birth-weight children. Language development problems are among these

infants are born weighing less the average newborn and are shorter in length. The central nervous

The San Luis, AZ rate of low-weight births is that of 59.7 per 1,000 births this rate is actually lower than the state rate of 70.6 per 1,000 births (San Luis PCA, 2016). Although this rate is lower than the state rate it still remains as a concern as the county wide rate did increase within 2 years (Arizona Health Matters, 2016). Given that low-birth weight, prenatal care, and infant mortality can be interconnected the lack of appropriate care and the rising trend in the delivery of low-weight births will impact the rate of infant mortality directly within the community.

Low Birthweight: a baby born weighing less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces is considered as with low birthweight two main reasons are responsible for a birth of baby with low birthweight: premature birth and fetal growth restriction. Other medical risk factors leading to the low birthweight include: preterm labor, chronic health conditions, infections, problems with the placenta, not gaining enough weight during pregnancy and having a low birthweight infant in the past. Along with medical risk factors there are other risk factors of everyday life associated with low birthweight newborn: smoking, drinking alcohol, drug abuse, little or no education, low income or being unemployed (March of Dimes,

Infant learning and brain development is fragile and contingent upon numerous intrinsic and extrinsic factors. The most critical time frame for infant brain development is from the second trimester to the first three months of life (Marshall, 2011). During this time, neural pathways are forming, areas of the brain are maturing, and brain development is rapid. From infancy until the age of 3 years, neural pathways are still being formed in response to stimulation and for this reason, it is extremely important for caregivers and parents to be aware of the many factors that can influence brain development in infants (Marshall, 2011).

The definition of early life as a social determinant of health given by Rumbold and Dickson-Swift is “A good start in life means supporting mothers and young children.” (Rumbold & Dickson-Swift, 2012, p. 180). Early life describes the period from prenatal development to eight years of age, and is a time of remarkable brain growth and development, this period establishes the foundations for subsequent development and learning (Siddiqi, Irwin, & Hertzman, 2007).

Background: High rates of adverse neonatal outcomes have been reported among women with HIV. In high-income countries, small for gestational age (SGA) and pre-term birth (PTB) are among the most prevalent of these outcomes and have been variously associated with antiretroviral treatment, ethnicity/race, psychosocial risk and lack of prenatal care. While evidence demonstrates that both medical and social factors contribute to LBW and PTD, risk factors for HIV positive women in Ottawa, Canada, have not been well described.

While some women who received no prenatal care had normal, uncomplicated births, others did not. Most of the women who did not receive adequate prenatal care gave birth to an underweight and underdeveloped infant. Among the benefits of early, comprehensive prenatal care are decreased risk of preterm deliveries and low birth weight (LBW)-both major predictors of infant morbidity and mortality. (Dixon, Cobb, Clarke, 2000). Preterm deliveries, deliveries prior to 37 weeks of gestation, have risen. Since the studies in 1987, which showed the rate of preterm deliveries as 6.9% of births, the 1997 rate shows an increase to 7.5%. Low birth weight, defined as an infant weighing less than 2500 grams (5lbs. 5oz) is often preceded by preterm delivery. Low