FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 23, 1999

CONTACT: Carole Gan
UC Davis
(916)734-9040
Ally Keller
San Joaquin General Hospital
(209) 468-6040

UC DAVIS STUDY AIMS TO IDENTIFY WHY BIRTH OUTCOMES ARE WORSE FOR SECOND AND THIRD GENERATION LATINAS Researchers looking for 1,500 women from San Joaquin County to enroll in the study.

(DAVIS, Calif.) - Researchers at UC Davis School of Medicine and Medical Center and the UC Berkeley School of Public Health are seeking 1,500 Hispanic women who live in San Joaquin County to participate in a study of healthy pregnancy and birth. The goal of the study - known as SHARE, or the Study of Hispanic Acculturation, Reproduction, and the Environment - is to identify the factors that contribute to Latinas giving birth to healthy babies.

"When Latinas come to the United States from Mexico or other Latin American countries, they tend to give birth to very healthy babies," says Marc Schenker, chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at UC Davis School of Medicine and Medical Center and principal investigator of the study. "The longer immigrant Latinas live in the United States, however, they have more pre-term and low-birth weight babies when compared to recent immigrants. A recent study found that the percentage of pre-term and low birth weight deliveries increased from 4 percent to 7 percent among Hispanic women who had lived in this country for more than five years. Our goal is to discover why this increase occurs and how it can be prevented."

The researchers will work in cooperation with three of San Joaquin General Hospital's Healthy Beginnings clinics, which offer a full-range of affordable medical care before, during and after pregnancy for women throughout the county. Researchers chose San Joaquin County as the study site because San Joaquin General Hospital has a 139-year history of providing comprehensive and culturally sensitive health-care services to Latinos.

"This is a very exciting study because it aims identify causes of a serious yet preventable health problem affecting many women and children in the community," says Schenker.

The knowledge that emerges from this study will directly benefit women living in the Stockton area by enabling San Joaquin General Hospital and its area clinics to design improved programs for preventing preterm and low-birth-weight deliveries among the women they serve. It also will provide insight into the underlying causes of preterm deliveries for all U.S. populations and help direct efforts to reduce this common but preventable health problem.

"Stockton is fortunate to be the site for this important study that will help us understand what is causing higher rates of adverse pregnancy outcomes among Hispanic immigrants throughout the country," adds Lee Adams, chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology at San Joaquin General Hospital.

More information about the study is available at (530) 752-3352 or at mbschenker@ucdavis.edu.

Health System | School of Medicine | Medical Center | Medical Group