Citation

Chandran A, Irwin S, Crifasi C, Dean LT. Violence Vict. 2021; 36(3): 339-346.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Springer Publishing)

DOI

10.1891/VV-D-20-00047

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Police-related deaths are a public health problem; however, their effects on community-level reproductive health outcomes remain largely unexplored. Among US counties with populations >100,000 (N = 580), we examined the longitudinal association between police-related deaths and rates of low birthweight (LBW) (<2,500 grams) deliveries, with counties stratified by quartiles of poverty. In the two lowest poverty quartiles, two or more police-related deaths were associated with a 5% (incidence rate ratio [IRR]: 1.05, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02, 1.09) and 10% (IRR 1.10, 95% CI: 1.05, 1.15) higher rate of LBW births, respectively. The effect was not significant in the two highest poverty quartiles. No counties are "immune" from the important effects of police-related deaths and therefore the public health importance of police violence is a ubiquitous one regardless of social class or position.

Language: en

Keywords

ow birthweight; police-related deaths; poverty; social determinants