Low-Income African-American Mothers’ Perception of Exposure to Racial Discrimination and Infant Birth Weight

We performed a hospital-based case-control study of African-American mothers to explore the relation between a mother's perception of exposure to racial discrimination during pregnancy and very low birth weight. We administered a structured questionnaire to low-income mothers of very low birth weight (2500 gm; N = 60) infants. The unadjusted and adjusted odds ratio of very low birth weight for maternal exposure to racial discrimination were 1.9 (0.5-6.6) and 3.2 (0.9-11.3), respectively. We conclude that maternal perception of exposure to racial discrimination during pregnancy may be associated with very low birth weight in their infants.