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Objectives. To assess if historical redlining, the US government's 1930s racially discriminatory grading of neighborhoods' mortgage credit-worthiness, implemented via the federally sponsored Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) color-coded maps, is associated with contemporary risk of preterm birth (Methods. We analyzed 2013-2017 birth certificate data for all singleton births in New York City (n = 528 096) linked by maternal residence at time of birth to (1) HOLC grade and (2) current census tract social characteristics.Results. The proportion of preterm births ranged from 5.0% in grade A ("best"-green) to 7.3% in grade D ("hazardous"-red). The odds ratio for HOLC grade D versus A equaled 1.6 and remained significant (1.2; P Conclusions. Historical redlining may be a structural determinant of present-day risk of preterm birth.Public Health Implications. Policies for fair housing, economic development, and health equity should consider historical redlining's impacts on present-day residential segregation and health outcomes.
Krieger et al. (Thu,) studied this question.
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