Abstract
BACKGROUND: We examined the separate and joint effects of gestational age, size at birth and maternal race/ethnicity on early childhood survival among 48,391 singleton infants with major birth defects. METHODS: Texas Birth Defects Registry data were linked to death records and the National Death Index to ascertain deaths. Gestational age categories were preterm or term birth; size at birth included small for gestational age (SGA), appropriate for gestational age (AGA), and large for gestational age (LGA). Kaplan-Meier survival estimates were calculated, and Cox-proportional hazards models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) to determine risk of death after adjusting for covariates. RESULTS: Overall, relative to non-Hispanic (NH) -whites, NH-blacks, and Hispanics had a 51 and 10% greater risk of death during early childhood, respectively. Compared to NH-whites born term and AGA (survival = 97%), Hispanic children born SGA and preterm had the greatest risk of death (HRa = 6.1; 95% CI, 5.2, 7.2) and the lowest early childhood survival (76%), followed by SGA preterm NH-blacks (HRa = 4.8; 95% CI, 3.6, 6.5; survival = 81%) and SGA preterm NH-whites (HRa = 4.5; 95% CI, 3.7, 5.6; survival 5 83%). Children born LGA at term had no increased risk of mortality regardless of maternal race/ethnicity. CONCLUSIONS: The joint effect of gestational age and size at birth had greatest impact on childhood mortality. Additional population based studies are needed to better understand causes of racial/ethnic disparities in mortality among children with birth defects.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 728-736 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Birth Defects Research Part A - Clinical and Molecular Teratology |
Volume | 88 |
Issue number | 9 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2010 |
Keywords
- Birth defects
- Birth weight
- Gestational age
- Infant
- Mortality
- Race/ethnicity
- Small for gestational age
- Survival
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
- Embryology
- Developmental Biology