Racial Disparities Identified Among Pregnant Women With MS

FRIDAY, Jan. 26, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Among women with multiple sclerosis (MS), underrepresented women are less often employed and privately insured during pregnancy and they have lower median birth weights compared with White women, according to a study published online Jan. 23 in Neurology.

Anne Marie Radzik, from the University of California San Francisco, and colleagues extracted demographic and clinical data from medical records of nine U.S. MS centers for women with MS/clinically isolated syndrome with live births between 2010 and 2021. Data were analyzed from 294 pregnancies resulting in live births: 81 Black, 67 Hispanic, and 146 White mothers.

The researchers found that White mothers lived in areas of higher median Child Opportunity Index relative to underrepresented women (79 versus 22) and were more often employed (84.9 versus 75 percent; odds ratio, 2.57) and privately insured (93.8 versus 56.8 percent; odds ratio, 11.6); more of them received a 14-week ultrasound (98.6 versus 93.9 percent). The mode of delivery differed significantly between the groups; the rate of emergency cesarean deliveries was highest among Black women, while Hispanic women had the highest rates of uncomplicated vaginal deliveries. Median birth weights were lower for babies born to underrepresented versus White women (3,198 versus 3,275 g), and median breastfeeding duration was shorter (4.5 versus 6.0 months). Underrepresented women had a higher median Expanded Disability Status Scale score (1.5 versus 1) before pregnancy.

"To attenuate some of the disparities identified in the current analyses, collaborative care models may help to increase and optimize access to quality prenatal and neurologic care," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to biopharmaceutical companies, including Genentech, which funded the study.

Abstract/Full Text