Foreign-born and US-born black women: differences in health behaviors and birth outcomes

Am J Public Health. 1990 Jan;80(1):70-2. doi: 10.2105/ajph.80.1.70.

Abstract

We studied health behaviors and birth outcome among 201 foreign-born and 616 US-born Black women receiving prenatal care at Boston City Hospital. Foreign-born women had better pre-pregnancy nutritional status and prenatal health behaviors, and their infants had greater intrauterine growth. Black women are not a homogeneous group; culture and ethnicity, in addition to other variables, must be considered in the study of their birth outcomes.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Birth Weight
  • Black or African American*
  • Boston
  • Educational Status
  • Female
  • Gestational Age
  • Health Behavior / ethnology*
  • Humans
  • Income
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Marriage
  • Maternal Age
  • Pregnancy
  • Pregnancy Outcome / ethnology*
  • Prenatal Care