Risk of abruptio placentae by region of birth and residence among African-American women in the USA.

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether Southern-born African-American women have higher incidence of abruptio placentae, irrespective of their region of residence.

METHODS

For this retrospective cohort study we used vital statistics data of the US for the years 1995 and 1996. Age-adjusted rates of abruption were derived for combinations of regions of birth (Northeast, Midwest, South, West, and Foreign-born) and regions of residence (Northeast, Midwest, South, and West) for all singleton live births among African-American women.

RESULTS

The incidence of abruptio placentae among African-American women was 6.7 per 1,000 live births. The age-adjusted rates of abruption among women who had not migrated showed that those in the Northeast had the highest rates (8.3 per 1,000), followed by those in the Midwest (6.3 per 1,000), South (6.0 per 1,000) and in the West (4.9 per 1,000). The prevalence of risk factors showed the same pattern.

CONCLUSION

The results of the study suggest that place of residence rather than place of birth was associated with the risk of placental abruption. However, foreign-born African-American women had lower rates of abruption irrespective of the region of residence.