SEATTLE — Researchers at the University of Washington may have found another link to African American women and preterm labor: racial discrimination and PTSD.
Widespread research shows that African American women are twice as likely as white women to go into early labor. Preterm births often coincide with low birth weights, health effects, developmental delays, and sometimes even death.
The research was led by Amelia Gavin, who's part of the school of social work and essentially looked at it this way: racial discrimination is connected to PTSD, and PTSD is related to pre-term birth.
PTSD can be any traumatic event. We might initially think of it as combat trauma, but it could also be a natural disaster, assault and abuse, or racial discrimination.
When UW researchers broke down race as it relates to PTSD, they found PTSD affected African American women more than anyone else. They also looked at previous studies that related racial discrimination and poor health, whether that was daily experiences with discrimination or living in generational poverty stemmed from racism.
“I’m trying to unpack, from a life course perspective, how risk factors in black women’s lives can have an impact on the next generation,” said Gavin. “Exploring the mechanisms by which racial discrimination affects the next generation is really important, and that means taking into consideration maternal mental health status. When we talk about racial disparities in health outcomes, we have to think about how we construct mental health, the role of PTSD and how different racial and ethnic groups experience it.”
A challenge to this study is how to define PTSD. It's not always related to one event. Trauma can recur and impact a person long term. We also need to see more research in how racial discrimination could manifest into PTSD.
In the meantime, here's what you can take away. Gavin and the co-authors of this study are recommending health care providers start screening all pregnant women for prenatal PTSD.
The researchers are aware there's a bigger picture when it comes to solving racial discrimination, but they're suggesting more help from the government with issues like affordable housing, K-12 education, and healthcare.