Despite ongoing efforts to improve maternal and infant health, socioeconomic disparities threaten to undermine population health gains and perpetuate cycles of disadvantage. Although studies have documented disparities by an individual’s poverty status for a range of health outcomes, no recent studies have documented such disparities in birth outcomes in the US.1 Poverty increases for women around the time of birth, when nutrition and medical costs increase.2 Socioeconomic adversities in the perinatal period, including poverty, can have lasting effects for the mother and newborn.3,4 However, macroeconomic conditions and policies related to poverty and health may have changed the risk of poverty and the nature of its relationship to birth outcomes. This study examined longitudinal trends in birth outcomes by poverty status, using the only multistate surveillance system with detailed information on the prenatal and postpartum periods, the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS), a long-running survey paused indefinitely by the federal government. These results inform policies and interventions to address maternal and infant health inequities. [JAMA Pediatrics]
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