SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS IN BIRTH OUTCOMES: THE US AN FRAN

低出生体重和相关的婴儿死亡率是一个重大问题， 关注美国的公共卫生政策。 尽管进行了广泛 研究表明，目前还不清楚为什么美国的出生率相对较低 与其他发达国家相比。 差异可能是 由于人口统计学差异或健康状况差异 护理提供和融资系统。 本研究将探讨社会经济因素之间的关系 和出生结果的关系。 法国被选为 比较，因为它有一个大的和社会经济多样化的人口， 因为在以前的比较研究中， 出生结果。 虽然其卫生服务提供系统类似于 美国的，医疗保健融资制度差别很大。 在法国，所有孕妇都有健康保险。 我们假设，在这两个国家，贫困确实通过以下方式影响结果： 对健康状况和健康行为的负面影响。 但我们 进一步假设，贫困的负面影响在 法国通过向低收入妇女提供适当的产前护理， 通过减少医疗的经济障碍。 一个复杂的多变量模型将被用来研究这个问题。 将使用四个数据集：两个生育率抽样调查（每个调查一个 国家）和两个数据库的所有出生为选定的美国和法国 地区

Low birth weight and associated infant mortality are issues of great concern for public health policy in the United States. Despite extensive research, it remains unclear why the U.S. has relatively poor birth outcomes when compared to other developed countries. Differences may be due to demographic differences in populations or to differences in health care delivery and financing systems. This study will investigate the relationship between socioeconomic factors and birth outcomes in the United States and France. France was chosen for comparison because it has a large and socioeconomically diverse population, and because it has not been induced in previous comparative studies of birth outcomes. While its health service delivery system is similar to that of the U.S., the health care financing system differs substantially. All pregnant women have health insurance coverage in France. We hypothesize that in both countries poverty does affect outcomes through its negative effect on health status and health behaviors. However, we further hypothesize that the negative effects of poverty are modified in France by the provision of adequate prenatal care of low income women and through the reduction in financial barriers to care. A complex multivariate model will be employed to investigated this issue. Four data sets will be used: two fertility sample surveys (one from each country) and two data bases of all births for selected U.S. and French regions.