Racial disparities in biopsychosocial factors and spontaneous preterm birth among rural low-income women.

In this descriptive prospective study, 269 African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian women from rural prenatal clinics were interviewed once between 16 and 28 weeks' gestation. Associations between biopsychosocial risk factors and preterm birth (PTB) were examined. African American women with spontaneous PTB were more likely to be older, and to have higher Bowman Gray Risk Index scores and hypertensive diseases of pregnancy than African American women who did not have a spontaneous PTB.

Unexpected emergency department death: incidence, causes, and relationship to presentation and time in the department.

Study Objective: To determine the incidence and causes of unexpected death in emergency department patients and its relationship to initial ED presentation. To determine if length of ED stay is directly related to unexpected death.

Design: Retrospective chart review of all patients dying in the study ED during a three-year period.