• Anuoluwapo Egbejimi, Veronica Ajewole, Deepa Dongarwar, Manvir Kaur, Motun Phillips, Jian Liang, Mouch Fadel, Lilian Lota, Jeanene Simon, Matthew Otule, Kennedy Taylor, God'Salvation Oguibe, Hamisu M Salihu, and Omonike Olaleye.
• From the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Texas Southern University, Houston.
• South. Med. J. 2023 Jun 1; 116 (6): 471477471-477.

ObjectivesWe assessed the impact of obesity and racial disparities on preterm birth (PTB) in the United States and sought to determine whether obesity widens the racial-ethnic disparity gap in preterm birth with a focus on non-Hispanic Black and White women.MethodsUsing birth data for the years 2014-2019 made publicly available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and obtained from the National Vital Statistics System, we conducted a cross-sectional cohort study analyzing a total of 14,864,844 births from 2014 to 2019.ResultsWe observed dose-dependent changes in obesity and PTB by defining obesity in subgroups and PTB in a stratified method. PTB occurred more among non-Hispanic Black women than their non-Hispanic White and Hispanic counterparts. We observed a consistent trend of increased PTB among women with high body mass index. Racial disparity existed in PTB among pregnant obese women, with non-Hispanic Black women exhibiting the greatest risk for PTB.ConclusionsOur work further contributes to the growing knowledge of the existence of health disparity among the Black population.

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