Authors: Sugarman JR., Brenneman G., LaRoque W., Warren CW, Goldberg HI

Publication Year: 1994

Journal: Public Health Reports

Keywords: Health Surveys, Infant, Maternal Health, Pregnancy, Socioeconomic Factors, Urban Health, Statistics & Numerical Data, Oversample

Abstract: The Indian Health Service sponsored a special effort to survey mothers of AI infants as part of the 1988 National Maternal and Infant Health Survey (NMIHS), a comprehensive national study conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control. The authors analyzed questionnaires completed by mothers residing in selected locations served by urban Indian health programs and compared the data with those for women of other races residing in metropolitan areas.

Although more than two-thirds of American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI) live outside reservations and Tribal lands, few data sets describe social and maternal-child health risk factors among urban AI. The Indian Health Service sponsored a special effort to survey mothers of AI infants as part of the 1988 National Maternal and Infant Health Survey (NMIHS), a comprehensive national study conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control. 

The authors analyzed questionnaires completed by mothers residing in selected locations served by urban Indian health programs and compared the data with those for women of other races residing in metropolitan areas. After adjusting the sample for nonparticipating States, the response rate in the Urban Indian Oversample was 60.8 percent (763 of 1,254). More than 45 percent of AI and black respondents, compared with 15 percent of white respondents, reported an annual household income of less than $10,000. About half of AI and black women, compared with nearly three-quarters of white women, reported having insurance or health maintenance organization coverage during pregnancy. Despite having a similarly low rate of health insurance coverage and low household income, AI respondents were far less likely than black respondents to have Medicaid coverage. A higher proportion of AI women than of black or white women reported difficulties in obtaining prenatal care, and AI women were less likely to obtain prenatal care. AI women were also less likely than white women to obtain prenatal care in the first trimester.

Source: Link to Original Article.

Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1403481/