Environmental crisis or an act of contemporary racism? A flint effect on maternal health disparities

Abstract

Background Racial injustices, both within the social and environmental aspect, are increasingly in national discussions due to impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic and persistent violence perpetrated by police against Black civilians that resulted in tragic deaths. An ongoing environmental injustice that began in 2014 is the Flint Water Crisis (FWC). The purpose of this study is to conduct a quasi-experimental research design to compare Flint to a sociodemographically similar city to determine what effect, if any, the FWC had on maternal health from 2012 to 2017 across three time periods: pre-during-and-post-FWC. Methods The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s 21 severe maternal morbidity (SMM) rates severed as indicators of maternal health status and were collected from the Michigan Inpatient Database. Differences between non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White race codes determined the maternal health disparity gap. R-statistical software and k-mean analysis were used to analyze cities that were comparable to Flint. Difference-in-difference methodology was used to compare the difference in SMM rates for Flint and a sociodemographically comparable city. Results On average, non-Hispanic Black women had a higher odds of experiencing a SMM across all three time periods: pre-FWC = 1.29, during-FWC = 1.2, and post-FWC = 1.05. Conclusions Maternal health outcomes observed in Flint during the FWC are significantly influenced by race. The study showed that regardless of a woman giving birth in a predominantly Black city, an environmental hazard, and her age range, maternal health disparities are still present if that woman identifies as Black.