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Short-term outcomes of Jewish and Arab preterms: a population-based comparison

Journal of Perinatology volume 41, pages 453–459 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective

To compare short-term outcomes of Arabs versus Jewish infants in Israel.

Methods

We used the Israel national VLBW infant database to compare adjusted mortality and major morbidities rates of Arabs versus Jewish infants delivered between January 1995 and December 2016. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to study the association of ethnicity with the odds for mortality and neonatal morbidities.

Results

The study population comprised 22431 VLBW, very preterm (<32 weeks gestation) infants (27.7% Arabs and 72.3% Jewish) without congenital malformations. The Arab infants had significantly higher odds ratios for mortality, and most neonatal morbidities. Despite the significant decline in mortality over time in both ethnic groups, the difference in mortality rates remained unchanged over time.

Conclusions

We found significant ethic disparity that remained unchanged over time. Some of the disparities identified in this study may be amenable to improvement through proper policies and education.

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Funding

The Israel National very low birth weight infant database is supported partially by the Israel Center for Disease Control and the Ministry of Health.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neonatology, the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel

    Yair Kasirer, Alona Bin-Nun & Francis B. Mimouni

  2. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Yair Kasirer & Alona Bin-Nun

  3. Women and Children’s Health Research Unit, Gertner Institute, Tel-Hashomer, Israel

    Brian Reichman, Inna Zaslavsky-Paltiel & Liat Lerner-Geva

  4. Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Brian Reichman, Liat Lerner-Geva & Francis B. Mimouni

Authors
  1. Yair Kasirer
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  3. Inna Zaslavsky-Paltiel
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  4. Alona Bin-Nun
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  5. Liat Lerner-Geva
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  6. Francis B. Mimouni
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Consortia

in collaboration with the Israel Neonatal Network

Contributions

Y.K.: contributed substantially to the conception and design of the study, interpretation of the data, drafted the initial manuscript, and approved the final manuscript as submitted. B.R.: contributed substantially to the conception and design of the study, analysis, and interpretation of the data, drafting the article, and has approved the final version of the article. I.Z.-P.: contributed substantially to the design of the study, analysis and interpretation of the data, revision of the article for important intellectual content and has approved the final version of the article. A.B.N. contributed substantially to the design of the study, analysis and interpretation of the data, revision of the article for important intellectual content and has approved the final version of the article. L.L.-G.: contributed substantially to the data acquisition, interpretation of the data, and revision of the article for important intellectual content and has approved the final version of the article. F.B.M.: contributed substantially to the conception and design of the study, analysis, and interpretation of the data, drafting the article, and has approved the final version of the article.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yair Kasirer.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Kasirer, Y., Reichman, B., Zaslavsky-Paltiel, I. et al. Short-term outcomes of Jewish and Arab preterms: a population-based comparison. J Perinatol 41, 453–459 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-020-0743-9

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