Adverse birth outcomes in Pakistani and Bangladeshi women in Luton v1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Explaining factors that contribute to low birth weight, stillbirth and infant mortality in Pakistani and Bangladeshi women living in Luton.
IRAS ID
157751
Contact name
Rebecca Garcia
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 2 months, 1 days
Research summary
This study will look at factors that contribute to low birth weight, stillbirth and infant mortality in infants of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women, living in Luton. National figures have shown that Pakistani and Bangladeshi women experience increased incidence of low birthweight babies, stillbirths and infant mortality rates compared to white British women. This health disparity is currently being addressed through the Department of Health outcomes framework (2013) with Public Health and NHS services involved at a local level, thus making this research a timely response to a substantial health burden. Luton currently has a high number of Pakistani and Bangladeshi residents and a substantial proportion of the births at the local hospital are evidenced from these communities. Therefore, Luton observes higher than national average rates of low birth weight infants, stillbirths and infant mortalities, with an accompanying health burden for many low birth weight infants that survive.
While epidemiological research has uncovered a number of maternal and environmental risk factors; qualitative studies have explored the barriers and enablers of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women using maternity services, there is a paucity of understanding maternal health beliefs in Pakistani and Bangladeshi women living in the UK context and how these might influence levels of maternity service engagement which may mediate adverse birth outcomes. Therefore using qualitative methods, this study will explore factors that contribute to adverse birth outcomes in Pakistani and Bangladeshi women living in Luton. The main objectives are to explore similarities and differences in maternal health beliefs of bereaved Pakistani, Bangladeshi and white British women using the maternity care pathway and to explore the perceptions of health staff working on the maternity care pathway.
REC name
East of England - Essex Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/EE/0181
Date of REC Opinion
18 Jun 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion