Study finds black moms face obstacles to care
Lack of prenatal treatment can increase infant mortality rate

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BY SUSAN SIMPSON
Published: October 22, 2008

Black women face more barriers to starting prenatal care, stated a study released Tuesday by the state Health Department.

The Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, which polls hundreds of new Oklahoma mothers each year, found one in five black women face barriers, including transportation problems, not being able to get an appointment when wanted and not being able to begin prenatal care as early as wanted.

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These issues have the potential to increase infant mortality in Oklahoma. Public health officials say early and routine prenatal care is important because of the early screening, diagnosis and treatment of potential risks like high blood pressure and diabetes that can affect healthy births.

"Oklahoma ranks at the bottom of most health surveys,” said Jill Nobles-Botkin, women’s health service director for the department. "Our infant mortality rate is well above the national average.”

Nobles-Botkin said it’s unclear why black women have trouble getting early prenatal care, but some may be delayed if they don’t have health insurance or medical providers like obstetricians.

Infants born to black women are twice as likely to have low birth weight when compared with those born to white women in the U.S., according to the health department. And they are nearly four times more likely to die from low birth weight complications than infants born to white women.

The Oklahoma black mothers were found to be less likely to have taken a multivitamin before pregnancy, and they were more likely to have an unintended pregnancy when compared with white women.

Also, use of cigarettes during pregnancy increased among black women from 1996 to 2006, although the rate is less than among white women. Smoking is a risk factor for low birth weight.


 

Related Topics: Culture and Lifestyle, Special Interest Groups, Pregnancy and Childbirth, Child Development, Family, Parenting, African-American Issues, Infant Development

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So I'm like up on a Saturday morning due to some work duties and I tune to the odd UHF channels. So this program comes on, "Health Alert" that is produced by Tulsa Public Schools and hosted by Pam Butler. (I made a lot of notes because what she said startled me.) Pam said that if a wealthy Black person walks into Oklahoma's finest hospital, and at the same time the poorest homeless white man walks in with him, and both men have the same illness, the white man will receive far superior health care than the rich Black man. This is supposed to be supported by hard evidence in exhaustive studies. Pam goes on to state that if a Black person walks into Oklahoma's hospitals with a good insurance plan, like Blue Cross - Blue Shield, and a homeless person walks in with nothing, the homeless white person will still receive far superior medical care than a Black person with far superior insurance coverage. Hospitals like Integris and St. Anthony's don't realize it, but they discriminate in health care due to deep seated racism (according to Pam Butler of Health Alert - TPS.)
The show goes on to state that it occurs in all demographics of care from neonatal to pediatrics to geriatrics. Black people fare much worse in Oklahoma hospitals than those of non-Black races. I think this is something that needs further study and cross-verification. If it turns out to be true, we may need to re-tune our medical schools of this state!
burt, edmond - Oct 22, 2008 at 4:24 pm
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