Explorative Study of Dominican Birth Data Across the United States, 2019Introduction The Hispanic Birth Paradox (HPB), first reported in the late 1990s, identified that foreign-born, Hispanic women experienced birth outcomes comparable to non-hispanic White women, despite their adverse health determinants. This is to say that despite having more income with non-hispanic Black regarding income, education and access to health care However, most of these studies overrepresent the experience of Mexican American women (Borrell et al, 2022). Recent studies seek to challenge this research by disaggregating the experiences of different Hispanic sub-groups (Borrell et al, 2022). This study seeks to explore the birth experiences of Dominican mothers in the United States (excluding U.S. Territories) to assess whether the Hispanic Birth Paradox captures the experience of this dynamic Hispanic sub-group; asking the question: Do Dominican women experience the Hispanic Birth Paradox? What are the birth experiences of self-identified Dominicans as reported in the CDC’s Birth data? This research project is an exploratory study on the variables of interest that determine the Hispanic Birth Paradox in the United States. This is a univariate explorative study. Methods The data for this study comes from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Vital Statistic’s 2019 Natality public use data, representing all recorded infant births in the United States for that calendar year. The data in this dataset is collected from the National Vital Statistics System, which collects U.S. standard birth certificates from state vital records. The National Center for Health Statistics cleans, codes, and standardizes all records for national reporting and research use. As this study seeks to understand the experience of Dominican women, it explores indicators that capture the demographics, health determinants, and pregnancy risk factors that contribute to the Hispanic Birth Paradox. From the Natality dataset, I have created a smaller dataset that only captures the observations for those who responded “Dominican” for the Hispanic Origin prompt. The mother’s nativity status, educational attainment, and age will be used at the demographic indicators. It is necessary to acknowledge that this dataset does not provide either geographic or socio-economic status indicators. Thus, this exploration is missing two significant demographics details that factor-in as health determinants. To supplement the lack of socio-economic status indicators, I have included the form of payment for the birth (i.g., self-pay, private insurance, Medicaid, and other) and receipt of WIC (Women, Infants, and Children, a public health nutrition program). The health conditions are expressed through the following variables: amount of prenatal care visits, and pre-pregnancy and gestational risk factors such as hypertension, eclampsia, diabetes and previous pre-term pregnancy. The outcome variable for the HBP is the birthweight of the infant. As this is a univariate explorative study, the goal is to illustrate the aggregate experience of self-identified Dominican mothers as reported in the 2019 Natality public use dataset published by the CDC. Results Demographics Birthweight Pregnancy Risk Factors Discussion Considering the absence of geographic and income indicators, the selected demographic variables contribute to the depiction of the socio-economic status of this population. Over two thirds of this group had at least high school education, and almost 54% having some college or more college education. From the Dominican women who gave birth in 2019, about 54% were WIC recipients at the time of birth; this means that their annual gross household income was at most 185% of the current federal poverty guidelines, which would be at most $60,000. This variable, alongside the distribution of educational attainment, portray the socio-economic status of this population. These indicators point to adverse health outcomes, as anticipated by the literature. The variable of interest in determining the Hispanic Birth Paradox is the outcome variable, birthweight. From the data, we see that birthweight is normally distributed. And, we see that a little under 9% of the infants born in 2019 to Dominican mothers in the United States were of low-birthweight. Moving forward with this study, it would be necessary to disaggregate the demographic/health determinant indicators that are most associate with a higher ration of low-birthweight infants. At least, as recent studies suggest, we are further understanding the experiences of Dominican women, however, how do they compare to the larger group of Hispanic women? These are the questions that derive from these exploratory graphs. It is important to analyze the risk factors to understand the Dominican women are developing hypertension and diabetes. These factors are also associated to low birthweight for infants and pre-term births. Works Cited Borrell LN, Bolúmar F, Rodriguez-Alvarez E, Nieves CI. Adverse birth outcomes in New York City women: Revisiting the Hispanic Paradox. Soc Sci Med. 2022 Dec;315:115527. doi: 10.1016/j. […] “Explorative Study of Dominican Birth Data Across the United States, 2019”
