Implications of Social Determinants of Health Characteristics on Fetal Growth Restriction Among Various Racial/Ethnic Groups

• Published in: Maternal and child health journal Vol. 27; no. 4; pp. 650 - 658
• Main Authors: Dongarwar, Deepa, Garcia, Brisa Y., Booker, Aleah, Sankhavaram, Mira, Salihu, Hamisu M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.04.2023; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Cross-Sectional Studies; Demographic aspects; Ethnicity; Female; Fetal Growth Retardation - epidemiology; Fetus; Growth retardation; Gynecology; Health disparities; Hispanic people; Humans; Maternal & child health; Maternal and Child Health; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Minority & ethnic groups; Pediatrics; Population Economics; Pregnancy; Pregnant women; Public Health; Racial Groups; Social Determinants of Health; Sociology; United States - epidemiology; Womens health; United States; Social determinants of health; Intrauterine growth restriction; Maternal–fetal outcomes; Racial disparity; Fetal growth restriction
• ISSN: 1092-7875; 1573-6628
• DOI: 10.1007/s10995-023-03611-w

Objectives Current knowledge regarding the relationship between social determinants of health (SDOH) characteristics of hospitalized American pregnant women and fetal growth restriction (FGR) reveals a dearth in the literature. Therefore, we examined the impact of SDOH on FGR among hospitalized American women in this study. Methods Using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) dataset for the years 2016–2018, we conducted this cross-sectional study. We conducted survey logistic regression to examine the association between SDOH factors and FGR, after adjusting for various hospitalization characteristics. Results Non-Hispanic (NH)-Black people had the highest prevalence of SDOH issues (0.7%), followed by Hispanics who had a prevalence of 0.4%. We observed that pregnant women with SDOH issues were 1.16 times as likely to experience FGR as those without SDOH (95% CI 1.0–1.34). When compared to their respective racial counterparts without SDOH, Hispanics with SDOH had increased odds, NH-White and NH-others with SDOH had the same likelihood, and NH-Black women with SDOH had lower odds of FGR. Conclusions for Practice Overall, our study illustrated an association between maternal SDOH issues and FGR, and the impact of SDOH issues on the outcome of FGR across various racial/ethnic groups. While our study provides useful insight into the topic, further research is needed to explain the observed varied influence of SDOH on FGR across racial/ethnic groups. Significance What is already known on this subject? Children with fetal growth restriction (FGR) present with a greater risk of long-term health effects including impaired neurological, cardiovascular and endocrine diseases in adulthood. FGR affects 5-10% of pregnancies and is the second leading cause of perinatal mortality. What this study adds? An association between maternal social determinants of health (SDOH) issues and FGR, and the impact of SDOH issues on the outcome of FGR across various racial/ethnic groups is present. When compared to their respective racial counterparts without SDOH, Hispanics with SDOH had increased odds of FGR.