TY - GEN A1 - Miani, Celine A1 - Ludwig, A. A1 - Breckenkamp, Jürgen A1 - Sauzet, Odile A1 - Doyle, Ina-Merle A1 - Höller-Holtrichter, Chantal A1 - Spallek, Jacob A1 - Razum, Oliver T1 - Socioeconomic and migration status as predictors of emergency caesarean section: a birth cohort study T2 - BMC pregnancy and childbirth N2 - BACKGROUND: Women with a migration background are reportedly at a higher risk of emergency caesarean section. There is evidence that this is due in part to suboptimal antenatal care use and quality of care. Despite the fact that migrant women and descendants of migrants are often at risk of socioeconomic disadvantage, there is, in comparison, scarce and incomplete evidence on the role of socioeconomic position as an independent risk factor for emergency caesarean delivery. We therefore investigate whether and how migration background and two markers of socioeconomic position affect the risk of an emergency caesarean section and whether they interact with each other. METHODS: In 2013-2016, we recruited women during the perinatal period in Bielefeld, Germany, collecting data on health and socioeconomic and migration background, as well as routine perinatal data. We studied associations between migration background (1st generation migrant, 2nd/3rd generation woman, no migration background), socioeconomic status (educational attainment and net monthly household income), and the outcome emergency caesarean section. RESULTS: Of the 881 participants, 21% (n = 185) had an emergency caesarean section. Analyses showed no association between having an emergency caesarean section and migration status or education. Women in the lowest (< 800€/month) and second lowest (between 800 and 1750€/month) income categories were more likely (aOR: 1.96, CI: 1.01-3.81; and aOR: 2.36, CI: 1.27-4.40, respectively) to undergo an emergency caesarean section than women in the higher income groups. CONCLUSIONS: Migration status and education did not explain heterogeneity in mode of birth. Having a low household income, however, increased the chances of emergency caesarean section and thereby contributed towards producing health disadvantages. Awareness of these findings and measures to correct these inequalities could help to improve the quality of obstetric care. KW - Acculturation KW - Birth cohort KW - Caesarean section KW - Education KW - Emergency KW - Germany KW - Income KW - Migration KW - Obstetric care KW - Socioeconomic determinants Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-020-2725-5 SN - 1471-2393 VL - 20 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Sauzet, Odile A1 - Zolitschka, Kim Alexandra A1 - Spallek, Jacob A1 - Breckenkamp, Jürgen A1 - Razum, Oliver T1 - An ego-centred approach for the evaluation of health inequalities in urban areas T2 - European Journal of Public Health N2 - Background: Neighbourhood possesses attributes, structural, physical and social, for which pathways to health inequalities could be hypothesized. Hence, neighbourhood is a complex mixture of factors which cannot be simply defined by a delineation on a map, making common definitions of neighbourhood (e.g. administrative borders) problematic. We present a new concept for the evaluation of contextual health inequalities in an urban setting. Methods: An ego-centred approach to neighbourhood effects on health allows to establish to what degree the health outcomes of a person are on average correlated to the health outcomes of his/her neighbours. This approach does not necessitate the definition of what a neighbourhood is, or of its boundaries. Using data from the BaBi birth cohort following up 958 mother-child pairs in Bielefeld/Germany we illustrate how the method provides information about the spatial structure of a possible association between unmeasured neighbourhood factors and birthweight. Spatially correlated birthweight indicates a neighbourhood effect on maternal health. Results: A parametric model of the correlation structure gives two indicators: a distance after which health outcomes are no longer correlated (practical range), and the strength of correlation (RSV). We modelled birthweight directly and residuals after controlling for (spatially correlated) covariates. After adjusting for the mother’s demographics and neighbourhood characteristics, birthweights remained spatially correlated with RSV of 11% and a practical range of 128 m. Conclusions: Modelling the spatial correlation of a health outcome provides a measure of the degree of health correlation, thus offering new evidence on the production of health inequalities while incorporating current modelling approaches. Moreover, it measures heterogeneity in a city. This could be used as an indicator for policy makers or town planners to identify areas in need of socioeconomic investment. KW - health inequalities KW - urban KW - birth weight KW - child KW - demography KW - ego KW - Germany KW - socioeconomic factors KW - health disparity KW - towns KW - maternal health Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckz186.243 SN - 1101-1262 SN - 1464-360X VL - 29 IS - 4 ER -