Preterm birth disparities by race-ethnicity
Over the past 10 years, in San Francisco, risk of preterm birth varied significantly by race-ethnicity.
Asian, Black or African American, and Latino/a pregnant people experienced significantly more preterm births than White pregnant people.
Risk of preterm birth was about 30 percent higher for Asian and Latino/a pregnant people.
Risk of preterm birth for Black or African American pregnant people was 200 percent higher.
The line graph describes how many babies were born preterm, as a proportion of the total births in the group. Lines are only shown for groups that experienced at least 20 preterm births in the 3-year period. For groups with fewer preterm births, but at least 10 births total in the period, see the total days of pregnancy lost .
Data notes and sources
Data notes and sources
Data source:
- California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Vital Record Business Information System (VRBIS). VRBIS data include one birth certificate record for each and every baby born in California.
- Data were analyzed by the San Francisco (SF) Department of Public Health Maternal Child & Adolescent Health Epidemiology Section.
Data notes:
- Preterm birth is defined as live birth before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Very preterm birth is live birth before 32 weeks of pregnancy.
- We count preterm births experienced by San Francisco residents between January 1 and December 31 of each year.
Data limitations:
- Data are not shown if the number of preterm births in the group is less than 20 to protect the privacy of individual people in the group. For small groups, please see the days of pregnancy lost because of preterm birth for the group.
- The total numbers shown here may undercount the true numbers, because we do not count preterm births that happened outside of California, in other states or countries.
- We do not count babies delivered in San Francisco by people who are not San Francisco residents.
Use the filter to select a population group. Click on the arrow under the table to go to the 'Next Page' to see the line chart for very preterm birth.
Preterm birth disparities by insurance type
San Francisco has a worsening preterm birth disparity for lower income groups with public health insurance.
Over the past 10 years, the gap in preterm birth rates between public and private insurance got significantly wider.
In 2020-2022, people with public insurance were 30% more likely to have a preterm birth than people with private insurance. People with public insurance were 200 percent more likely to have a very preterm birth, before 32 weeks of pregnancy, than people with private insurance.
The line chart shows the difference in preterm birth rates for people with public and private insurance. The orange line for people with public insurance gets higher and higher, away from the blue line for people with private insurance.
Data notes and sources
Data notes and sources
Data source:
-
California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Vital Record Business Information System (VRBIS). VRBIS data include one birth certificate record for each and every baby born in California.
-
Data were analyzed by the San Francisco (SF) Department of Public Health Maternal Child & Adolescent Health Epidemiology Section.
Data notes:
-
We count all live preterm births for each year from January 1 through December 31.
Data limitations:
-
Data are not shown if the number of preterm births in the group is less than 20 to protect the privacy of individual people in the group. For small groups, please see the days of pregnancy lost because of preterm birth for the group.
-
The total numbers shown here may undercount the true total number of preterm births to San Francisco residents because, because we do not count preterm births that happened outside of California, in another state or country.
-
We do not count babies delivered in San Francisco by people who are not San Francisco residents.
Click on the arrow under the table to go to the 'Next Page' to see the line chart for very preterm birth.
Preterm birth disparities by Social Determinants of Health
In San Francisco, risk of preterm birth varies significantly by hospital, housing, access to adequate prenatal care, and food program participation.
In 2020-2022, the percent preterm was about two times greater for people living in public housing or Single Resident Occupancy (SRO) rooms and people with inadequate prenatal care. People eligible for WIC, but not receiving WIC, had about two times greater risk of very preterm birth.
Data notes and sources
Data notes and sources
Data source:
-
California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Vital Record Business Information System (VRBIS). VRBIS data include one birth certificate record for each and every baby born in California.
-
Data were analyzed by the San Francisco (SF) Department of Public Health Maternal Child & Adolescent Health Epidemiology Section.
Data notes:
-
Abbreviations: CPMC: California Pacific Medical Center; UCSF: University of California San Francisco; ZSFG: Zuckerberg San Francisco General.
-
Race and ethnicity were self-reported by the parent(s) and grouped by the California Department of Public Health, which separates multi-race Hispanic and single race Hispanic groups.
-
Quality of prenatal care was checked using the Kotelchuck index
-
The birth record notes if the birthing parent was ever diagnosed by a doctor with high blood pressure before or during pregnancy and if they were ever diagnosed with diabetes before or during pregnancy.
Data limitations:
-
Data are not shown if the number of preterm births in the group is less than 20 to protect the privacy of individual people in the group. For small groups, please see the days of pregnancy lost because of preterm birth for the group.
-
The numbers shown here may undercount the true number of preterm births because we did not count preterm births delivered by San Francisco residents outside of California, in other states or countries. The birth record data may be incomplete because of health conditions that were not diagnosed.
-
We do not count babies delivered in San Francisco by people who are not San Francisco residents.
Click on the arrow under the table to go to the 'Next Page' to see the percentage of very preterm birth by Social Determinant of Health factors.
Preterm birth disparities by zip code
Preterm birth is not evenly distributed across San Francisco zip codes.
Zip code 94130 (Treasure Island) has the highest rate of preterm birth in San Francisco. One out of every 5 births on Treasure Island were preterm in 2018-2022.
In 2018-2022, the Treasure Island (94130), Excelsior (94112), and Bayview (94124) zip codes had a significantly higher percent preterm than the Pacific Heights (94109) zip code.
Data notes and sources
Data notes and sources
Data source:
-
California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Vital Record Business Information System (VRBIS). VRBIS data include one birth certificate record for each and every baby born in California.
-
Data were analyzed by the San Francisco (SF) Department of Public Health Maternal Child & Adolescent Health Epidemiology Section.
Data notes:
-
Abbreviations: CPMC: California Pacific Medical Center; UCSF: University of California San Francisco; ZSFG: Zuckerberg San Francisco General.
-
Race and ethnicity were self-reported by the parent(s) and grouped by the California Department of Public Health, which separates multi-race Hispanic and single race Hispanic groups.
-
Quality of prenatal care was checked using the Kotelchuck index
-
The birth record notes if the birthing parent was ever diagnosed by a doctor with high blood pressure before or during pregnancy and if they were ever diagnosed with diabetes before or during pregnancy.
Data limitations:
-
Data are not shown if the number of preterm births in the group is less than 20 to protect the privacy of individual people in the group. For small groups, please see the days of pregnancy lost because of preterm birth for the group.
-
The numbers shown here may undercount the true number of preterm births because we did not count preterm births delivered by San Francisco residents outside of California, in other states or countries. The birth record data may be incomplete because of health conditions that were not diagnosed.
-
We do not count babies delivered in San Francisco by people who are not San Francisco residents.
Click on the arrow under the table to go to the 'Next Page' (Page 2) to see how the preterm birth rates in 2018-2022 compare with rates for the prior 5-year period. To compare any two rates, check to see if the confidence intervals overlap. If they do not overlap they are significantly different.Click to go to Page 3 to see the map for 2013-2017. Population group-specific maps are available on the linked page.
More information
See linked pages about preterm birth in San Francisco