Racial Disparity in the NICU: Position Statement #3070.

Preterm birth continues to be a significant public health problem in the United States. In 2018, one out of every 10 infants in the United States was born prior to 37 weeks gestation (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019). The U.S. preterm birth rate increased to 10.02% in 2018, representing a 1% increase from 2017 and the fourth straight year of increases in this rate. The increase in the preterm birth rate among non-Hispanic White mothers between 2017 and 2018 was not statistically significant (~9%), but preterm delivery rates among non-Hispanic Black mothers increased to 14.13% and among Hispanic mothers to 9.73%. (Martin, Hamilton, Osterman, & Driscoll, 2019). These statistics are even more concerning given the racial health disparities for premature infants that have been well documented in the literature.