The Trump Administration’s anti-immigration policies and rhetoric may have led to a rise in premature births among New York’s Latina moms, according to a study released Wednesday by the city’s Health Department.
Between the beginning of September 2015 and the end of August 2017, the birthrate across New York City for babies born before 37 weeks of a pregnancy increased from 7 to 7.3 percent, according to the report, which was conducted by the Health Department and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. While the rates remained relatively stable for white and black women during that time period, researchers said premature birth rates among Latina women went from 7.7 to 8.2 percent, with more of these higher risk births occurring after the inauguration.
The study’s authors hypothesized that severe stressors related to the post-Trump political environment, increased deportations and a rise in hate crimes were leading causes for the rise in premature births among New York Latinas.
"The study results point to the importance of monitoring the health impacts of severe sociopolitical stressors and changing exposure to these stressors, as has occurred for groups targeted during the 2016 presidential election and its aftermath,” Dr. Nancy Krieger, the study’s lead author, said in a statement.
Researchers looked at 230,105 New York City birth certificates that were issued during the 23 month study period, and analyzed the data in three different time periods: before the presidential nomination (September 2015 to July 2016), the period between the nomination and the inauguration (August 2016 to December 2016) and then from the swearing in to September 2017. Overall premature birth rates among Latinas increased most dramatically between the nomination and the summer after inauguration, rising from 7.5 to 8.2 percent, the report found.
Overall premature birth rates among white women, by comparison, dropped from 5.2 to 5 percent during the same periods, according to researchers.
The report acknowledged that it lacked data on non-sociopolitical factors that can influence premature births, however researchers noted the risks for earlier births were "unlikely to be due to changes in other sociodemographic or medical factors, given the short time frame of observation."
In the summer, first lady Chirlane McCray and the Health Department announced a comprehensive plan to decrease child mortality rates, which includes comprehensive maternity care at city hospitals.
"Every woman in this city has the right to have a healthy pregnancy and delivery regardless of their race or immigration status," Acting Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot, said in a statement.
