Health Disparities in the Use of Primary Cesarean Delivery among Asian American Women

Yuqing Zhang (), Lisa Heelan-Fancher, Suzanne Leveille and Ling Shi
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Yuqing Zhang: College of Nursing, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45040, USA
Lisa Heelan-Fancher: Robert and Donna Manning College of Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA 02125, USA
Suzanne Leveille: Robert and Donna Manning College of Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA 02125, USA
Ling Shi: Robert and Donna Manning College of Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA 02125, USA

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 19, 1-10

Abstract: This study examined the health disparities in primary cesarean delivery (PCD) use among Asian American (AA) women and within AA subgroups. We examined 22 years of birth registry data from one diverse northeastern state in the United States, including singleton vertex live births between 24 and 44 weeks of gestation without congenital abnormalities. Multivariate logistic regression was used to test the association between PCD and race and ethnicity groups adjusting for maternal demographic and health behaviors, infant gender and birth weight, gestational age, initiation of prenatal care, and other risk factors. Among the eligible sample, 8.3% were AA. AAs had the highest rate of PCD (18%) among all racial and ethnic groups. However, extensive heterogeneity was found among the AA subgroups. After controlling for confounding variables, compared to non-Hispanic White women, Filipino, Asian Indian, and Other Asian subgroups had a higher risk for PCD (Adj OR = 1.40, 1.37, and 1.21, p < 0.001), while Japanese, Chinese, and Korean had a lower risk (Adj OR = 0.57, 0.83, and 0.90, p < 0.001), and Vietnamese had no significant difference in PCD use. Although AA as a single racial and ethnic group had higher prevalence of PCD, more studies are warrantied to address the disproportional distribution of health disparities in PCD use within AA subgroups.

Keywords: birth registry; Asian health disparities; primary cesarean delivery (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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