The Differential Effect of Prenatal Care on the Incidence of Low Birth Weight among Blacks and Whites in a Prepaid Health Care Plan

Abstract

Black infants are born with low birth weights (<2500 g) and very low birth weights (<1500 g) at twice the rate of white infants. We investigated the effect of prenatal care delivered in a health maintenance organization on the birth weights of black and white infants at normal risk for low birth weight. Using birth certificates for all children born in 1978 in the California Kaiser–Permanente hospitals, we studied data on more than 31,000 black and white newborns whose mothers' ages and levels of education were comparable.