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Updated: Oct 23, 2025
A Novel Method for Involving Women of Color at High Risk for Preterm Birth in Research Priority Setting
Published on: January 12, 2018
Race, language, and neighborhood predict high-risk preterm Infant Follow Up Program participation
Yarden S Fraiman1,2,3, Jane E Stewart4,5,6, Jonathan S Litt4,5,6,7
1Department of Neonatology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA. yfraiman@bidmc.harvard.edu.
Objectives:
Infant Follow Up Programs (IFUPs) provide developmental surveillance for preterm infants after hospital discharge but participation is variable. We hypothesized that infants born to Black mothers, non-English speaking mothers, and mothers who live in "Very Low" Child Opportunity Index (COI) neighborhoods would have decreased odds of IFUP participation.
Study Design:
There were 477 infants eligible for IFUP between 1/1/2015 and 6/6/2017 from a single large academic Level III NICU. Primary outcome was at least one visit to IFUP. We used multivariable logistic regression to identify factors associated with IFUP participation.
Result:
Two hundred infants (41.9%) participated in IFUP. Odds of participation was lower for Black compared to white race (aOR 0.43, p = 0.03), "Very Low" COI compared to "Very High" (aOR 0.39, p = 0.02) and primary non-English speaking (aOR 0.29, p = 0.01).
Conclusion:
We identified disparities in IFUP participation. Further study is needed to understand underlying mechanisms to develop targeted interventions for reducing inequities.
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