Abstract
Objective: To investigate the effect of low socioeconomic status indicators, specifically parental educational and occupational characteristics on neonatal health outcomes.Methods: Analysisof 3372 newborn infants admitted to five National Collaborative Perinatal Neonatal Network centers (1 February 2000 to 31 January 2002). Outcomes included birth weight, gestational age, admission to theneonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and length of hospital stay. The independent effects of mother's education and occupation as well as father's occupation on health outcomes were assessed by means ofstepwise logistic regression analysis.Results: A total of 271 (8.0%) infants were of low birth weight, 306 (9.1%) were preterm, 410 (12.2%) had NICU admissions and 240 (7.1%) were hospitalizedfor more than a week. After adjusting for maternal gravidity, age, smoking during pregnancy and pregnancy-related complications, parental socioeconomic characteristics had no significant impact on low birthweight or preterm birth. NICU admission and prolonged hospitalization were significantly correlated with skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled paternal occupations. Illiterate mothers had nearly 3-5 timesthe risk of NICU admission and prolonged hospitalization.Conclusion: Both father's occupation and mother's education play an important role as determinants of neonatal morbidity characteristics.
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