An infant’s hand gripping an adult’s finger, in black and white. “Grayscale Photography of Baby Holding Finger” by Pixabay is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Major political events, such as elections, can affect public health towards many areas. Entire segments of a country’s population can be affected, and these political changes have a big effect on our most sensitive and vulnerable citizens — mothers and infants.
Considering comments of racism and xenophobia associated with Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, researchers Paola Langer, Caitlin Patler and Erin Hamilton examined how infant health was impacted. The researchers looked at over 15 million US birth records between 2012 and 2018 and compared changes in adverse birth outcomes, such as preterm or low birthweight births (which increases the chance of adulthood chronic diseases, like obesity and diabetes) among US and foreign born White, Black, Hispanic and Asian mothers.
The researchers found that the rates of low birth weight and preterm births for Black, Hispanic, and Asian (specifically Asian Pacific Islanders) US and foreign born mothers increased after the 2016 election, and the gaps between these groups and White mothers increased. Conversely, White mothers had no change or a slight decrease in adverse birth outcomes.The researchers suggest multiple factors that could have contributed to these disparities. Notably, election years can be highly stressful periods for women of color since their wellbeing is often threatened by proposed and enacted policies. In return, physiological responses to stress can impact their infants in utero.
Since 2016, many people of color have increasingly questioned their safety in the USA as the number of hate crimes has increased in recent years. As for our future, infants’ health is a critical indicator of future population health and societal well being.
Comments