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Student Sample Article Summaries

Note: These student sample article summaries do not imply a claim that they are

perfect, but that they are a representation of the quality that students are expected

to equal and surpass.

Running head: MATERNAL BIRTH WEIGHT AND NEIGHBORHOOD INCOME 39

Maternal Birth Weight and Neighborhood Income

Keith S.

Southern Wesleyan University

Dr. R. A.

January 21, 20xx

MATERNAL BIRTH WEIGHT AND NEIGHBORHOOD INCOME

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Maternal Birth Weight and Neighborhood Income

In an article by Collins., Rankin, and Hibbs (2015), the authors chose to study the

age-related patterns of low birth rates among white, non-Latino, and African-American

mothers, living in Chicago, who were also former low birth weight (LBW) and non-low

birth weight (NLBW) children. I chose this article because of my interest in current health

issues in the Chicago area.

The study was conducted on a transgenerational dataset born in suburban Cook

county or Chicago between 1956-1976 for mothers and 1989-1991 for infants. The

maternal age related pattern of low birth weight differs by race is a known fact (Collins,

Rankin, & Hibbs, 2015, p. 739). Adverse outcomes for births to African-American mothers

rises with age which is not the case with white mothers. A “weathering” hypothesis exists

that there are physical consequences on the reproductive ability of women who are

exposed to life-long social and economic struggles. The authors of this article hypothesized

that negative fetal programming, measured by low birth rates, is associated with an

accelerated weathering pattern of rising rate of LBW with advancing age among African-

American mothers with early-life and adulthood exposure to neighborhood poverty

(Collins et al., 2015, p. 740). Relative risks, 95% confidence levels and Mantel-Haenszel Chi

Square Chi tests of linear trend were calculated for this study.

Neighborhood income measure was divided into quartiles for early-life (maternal

grandmother’s pregnancy) to adulthood (maternal pregnancy) for all races. Of the dataset,

African-Americans (n=38,964) proved to have a greater chance of life-long residence in

poverty neighborhoods than Whites (n = 31,616), 66.8% vs. 6.6% respectively. African-

Americans, 29%, experience life-long poverty as compared to negligible number of Whites

MATERNAL BIRTH WEIGHT AND NEIGHBORHOOD INCOME

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(n=69). LBW rates, in both races, were unrelated to age for mothers who were former LBW

babies (trend test p value >0.05) (Collins et al., 2015, p. 741). The study also determined

that, in contrast to Whites, negative birth outcomes increased in advancing age only among

non-LBW African-American (age 14-35) mothers. P values for the interaction between

material birth weight and age for African-American women with early-life and adulthood

residence in impoverished neighborhoods was 0.07 (Collins et al., 2015, table 2). This

study, to me, showed the need for a more evidence around how African-American women

are effected by other stressors, such as socially mediated stressors, from infancy through

adulthood.

In conclusion, maternal LBW does not contribute to the age-related patterns of

adverse birth outcome as compared to race. Also, there is no association between LBW and

weathering among African-American women (ages 14-35) having life-long impoverished

conditions. The p value for the interaction between maternal birth weight and age equaled

0.27 (Collins et al., 2015, figure 3).

This article was very interesting. I did not find the statistical data or tables difficult

to understand though following the different samples within the population being studied,

at times, was confusing. The study compared Whites vs African-American women ages 14-

35 with samples of those populations being: former LBW and former non-LBW (meaning

grandmother pregnancies and mothers as infants), LBW and non-LBW infants, income

quartiles or residential environment, and weathering patterns as related to age. Very

interesting study.

MATERNAL BIRTH WEIGHT AND NEIGHBORHOOD INCOME

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References

Collins, J. W., Rankin, K. M., & Hibbs, S. (2015, July 3, 2014). The maternal age related

patterns of infant low birth weight rates among Non-Latino Whites and African-

Americans: The effect of maternal birth weight and neighborhood income [Journal].

Maternal and Child Health Journal, 19(4), 739-744.

http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1007/s10995-014-1559-z

Running head: Mortality from motorcycle crashes: the baby-boomer cohort effect 1

Page 1 of 46

Mortality from motorcycle crashes: the baby-boomer cohort effect

Session Five: Article Summary 2

Nathan J.

Southern Wesleyan University

February, 20xx

Professor Raymond Attawia

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In their article, “Mortality from motorcycle crashes: the baby-boomer cohort effect”,

Li, Keyes, & Puac-Polanco (2016) perform an age-period-cohort analysis to determine

whether US baby-boomers (i.e., those born 1946-1964) experience a significantly greater

mortality rate from motorcycle accidents. Although motorcyclists account for less than 1%

of miles traveled on US roadways, their motor vehicle mortality rates have almost doubled

at more than 13% over the past decade (Li et al, 2016). The authors feel that there is a

significantly strong correlation between the risk of death per mile traveled for baby-

boomer motorcyclists.

The authors gathered motor vehicle data from the National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration (NHTSA) from 1975 to 2014. The data was limited to motorcyclist between

the ages of 15 and 84 years old who died within 30 days of the motorcycle accident. The

data was first recorded in an age-period contingency table, plotted, then a median polish

analysis applied in order to isolate the cohort effect. They then used Microsoft Excel to

perform a simple linear regression analysis so as to quantify the cohort effects with age and

birth being the independent variables, ‘x’ and mortality rate per 100,000 being the

dependent variable, ‘y’.

During the data sampling period of 39 years, there were 1,513,937 fatal motor

vehicle crashes with 9.2% meeting the test criteria (Li et al, 2016). Using a 95% confidence

interval, it was discovered that the baby-boomers born between 1955 and 1964 had

statistically significant higher mortality rate ratios than both earlier and later birth date

subjects. Variations in the dependent variable were explained in detail, whereas the baby-

boomer effect in crash mortality was more pronounced in women than in men. The higher

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rates of motorcycle exposure afforded baby-boomers were deemed a likely function of the

increased rates of mortality risk uncovered in the authors’ research.

The authors determined that baby-boomers are at increased risk of motorcycle

mortality and suggest that motorcyclists between the ages of 52 and 70 years of age in

2016 attend continued motorcycle safety training to reduce motorcycle crash mortality

rates (Li et al, 2016). While I agree with the authors’ findings and suggestions, I would

recommend further correlation studies be performed to better filter out risk-taking

activities such as drug and alcohol usage. This article was very informative and well

executed for I am convinced that there is a significant correlation between the risk of death

per mile traveled for baby-boomer motorcyclists

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References

Puac-Polanco, V., Keyes, K., & Li, G. (2016). Mortality from motorcycle crashes: the baby-

boomer cohort effect. Injury Epidemiology, 3(1), 1. doi:10.1186/s40621-016-008