County-level Variation in Low Birthweight and Preterm Birth: An Evaluation of State Medicaid Expansion Under the Affordable Care Act.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Rates of low birthweight and prematurity vary 2-fold across states in the United States, with increased rates among states with higher concentrations of racial minorities. Medicaid expansion may serve as a mechanism to reduce geographic variation within states that expanded, by improving health and access to care for vulnerable populations.

Objective

The objective of this study was to identify the association of Medicaid expansion with changes in county-level geographic variation in rates of low birthweight and preterm births, overall and stratified by race/ethnicity.

Research design

We compared changes in the coefficient of variation and the ratio of the 80th-to-20th percentiles using bootstrap samples (n=1000) of counties drawn separately for all births a

SUBMITTER: Brown CC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7317064 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature