The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #73187

Janet T. Eyster, PhD¹, Claudia Holzman, DVM, MPH, PhD¹, Bao Ping Zhu, MD, MPH², Jian-Ping He, MD¹, M. Hossein Rahbar, PhD¹, and Michael Rip, PhD¹. (1) Department of Epidemiology, Michigan State University, College of Human Medicine, 4660 South Hagadorn Rd., Se. 660, E. Lansing, MI 48895, (517) 353-8623, eysterj@msu.edu, (2) Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway, K-23, Atlanta, GA 30341-3724

In Public Health it is recognized that both individual behavior and personal characteristics and community characteristics are related to health outcomes. To investigate the relationship between Preterm Delivery and maternal and community characteristics, 2000 census data and birth certificate data from 1995, 1998 and 1999 for births in 16 Michigan urban settings were obtained and analyzed using hierarchical data analysis. In these Michigan setting, three hierarchical levels of sub-city geographic units were available: census block group, census tract, and locally defined neighborhoods. The increase in information obtained by analyzing the non-Hispanic African American and non-Hispanic White racial disparity in preterm delivery rates at these sub-city levels is compared to the city-wide disparity in rates usually available to local public health officers. The results of the analysis and ways to display the result for community use will be discussed.

Learning Objectives:

• The objective is to increase the knowledge of statisticians, epidemiologists and public health analysts in the utility of multi-level analysis of individual and contextual characteristics in identifying determinants of preterm delivery and other areas of health.

Keywords: Statistics, Epidemiology

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.