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. 2015 Jun;105(6):1174-80.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2014.302441. Epub 2015 Apr 16.

Beyond the cross-sectional: neighborhood poverty histories and preterm birth

Claire Margerison-Zilko  1 , Catherine Cubbin, Jina Jun, Kristen Marchi, Kathryn Fingar, Paula Braveman
Affiliations

Beyond the cross-sectional: neighborhood poverty histories and preterm birth

Claire Margerison-Zilko et al. Am J Public Health. 2015 Jun.

Abstract

Objectives: We examined associations between longitudinal neighborhood poverty trajectories and preterm birth (PTB).

Methods: Using data from the Neighborhood Change Database (1970-2000) and the American Community Survey (2005-2009), we categorized longitudinal trajectories of poverty for California neighborhoods (i.e., census tracts). Birth data included 23 291 singleton California births from the Maternal and Infant Health Assessment (2003-2009). We estimated associations (adjusted for individual-level covariates) between PTB and longitudinal poverty trajectories and compared these to associations using traditional, cross-sectional measures of poverty.

Results: Compared to neighborhoods with long-term low poverty, those with long-term high poverty and those that experienced increasing poverty early in the study period had 41% and 37% increased odds of PTB (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.18, 1.69 and 1.09, 1.72, respectively). High (compared with low) cross-sectional neighborhood poverty was not associated with PTB (odds ratio = 1.08; 95% CI = 0.91, 1.28).

Conclusions: Neighborhood poverty histories may contribute to an understanding of perinatal health and should be considered in future research.

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Figures

FIGURE 1—
FIGURE 1—
Longitudinal neighborhood poverty trajectories with mean poverty rate at each time period and percentage of neighborhoods represented by each trajectory: California, 1970–2009. Note. Data were taken from US Census tracts. The sample size was n = 7049.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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