Maternal Fair/Poor Self-Rated Health and Adverse Infant Birth Outcomes

Abstract

We conducted a cross-sectional, correlational analysis of the West Virginia Birth Score Program database examining the relationship between maternal self-rated health (SRH) and infant low birth weight (LBW), preterm birth, and small for gestational age (SGA). We found that, after controlling for covariates, mothers reporting fair/poor SRH were more likely to deliver an LBW infant (OR = 1.35, 95% CI = 1.14, 1.59), to deliver preterm (OR = 1.38, 95% CI = 1.17, 1.63), and to deliver an SGA infant (OR = 1.20, 95% CI = 1.05, 1.38). Given these results, further research is warranted to analyze maternal SRH during pregnancy, thereby exploring its potential predictive ability in regards to adverse birth outcomes.