Politically related stress and low-birth-weight infants among Arab, Asian, Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic White women in Michigan

Background: Despite the high cost of low birth weight and the persistent challenge of racial inequities affecting the Arab American community, there has been limited research to identify and examine risk factors for these inequities with validated data on Arab American ethnicity and recent population stressors. Objectives: This study examined whether the 2016 presidential election is associated with low birth weight among non-Hispanic White, Arab American, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic Black women. Design: This population-based study of singleton births in Michigan (2008–2017) used an algorithm to identify mothers who were of Arab descent. Methods: We used logistic regression to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the association between race/ethnicity and the odds of low birth weight. We examined whether these associations differed before and after the 2016 presidential election and according to maternal education. Results: There were 1,019,738 births, including 66,272 (6.5%) classified as low birth weight. The odds of having a low-birth-weight infant were higher among all minority women compared to non-Hispanic White women. The association was similar before and after the 2016 presidential election and stronger among women with higher levels of education. Conclusion: This is the first study to estimate low birth weight among Arab American women in the context of political events. There are opportunities for future studies to discuss this issue in depth. Plain language summary Stress and low-birth-weight infants among women in Michigan There have been only a few studies that investigated the relationship between political stress and infant outcomes for Arab Americans in Michigan. This study examined whether the 2016 presidential election is associated with low birth weight among non-Hispanic White, Arab American, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic Black women. The authors used singleton births in Michigan from 2008 to 2017 and an Arabic/Chaldean algorithm to identify mothers who were of Arab descent. Minority women were more likely to have low-birth-weight infants compared to non-Hispanic White women. There was no difference in this when comparing results before and after the 2016 presidential election. Importantly, the study showed that the differences in low birth weight were strong among women with higher levels of education.