The association between maternal and paternal race and preterm birth.

ABSTRACT Background Non-Hispanic Black (NHB) maternal race is a known risk factor for preterm birth (PTB). However, the contribution of paternal race is not as well established. Objectives We sought to evaluate the risk of PTB among NHB, NH White (NHW), and mixed NHB/NHW dyads. Study Design This is a population-based cohort study of all live births in the United States from 2015-2017, using live birth records from the National Vital Statistics System. Singleton, non-anomalous infants whose live birth record included maternal and paternal self-reported race as either NHW or NHB were included. The primary outcome was PTB Results There were 11,809,599 live births during the study period; 4,008,622 births met inclusion criteria. Of included births, 291,647 (7.3%) occurred Conclusions NHB paternal race is a risk factor for preterm birth and should be considered when evaluating maternal a priori risk for prematurity. Future research should investigate the mechanisms behind this finding, including determining the contribution of factors such as racism, maternal and paternal genetics and epigenetics to an individual's risk of PTB.