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It is important to understand
where preterm births are occurring in Alameda County.
This information can be used for various public health
actions, including targeting resources, planning
interventions, evaluating programs, and developing policies.
We created tables and charts
showing preterm birth rates by city and ZIP code. This
information can be useful for making comparisons between
locations and for comparing to other information that is
categorized by city or ZIP codes.
We also created a smoothed surface
map of preterm birth rates in Alameda County for 2001.
This map is useful for looking at rates at the neighborhood
level. To
learn more about how we made these maps, go to Data and
Methods Overview.
Reading the map
- A smoothed-surface map is like a
contour map of rates. Instead of showing the preterm birth rates by
geographic unit (such as a ZIP code), it shows a continuous surface.
This gives a more realistic representation of what preterm birth looks like in the
county, while preserving the
confidentiality of the individuals whose records we used to
create the map.
- The orange circles on the map show locations where
the elevation in rate was statistically significant compared to the Alameda
County rate of 8.5%. This means that
the difference between the rates of these locations and the countywide rate is not
due to random chance.
- Because these maps are showing rates, population
density is accounted for. In other words, an area does not appear
"high" just because there are more people living there. The rates are
mapped by maternal address- where the mother was living at the time she gave
birth.
Below is a map showing rates of preterm birth in Alameda
County in 2001. The data used to create the map came
from the California Department of Health Statistics, Center
for Health Statistics.
PRETERM BIRTH IN ALAMEDA COUNTY
Preterm birth rates varied geographically across Alameda County. As indicated by the orange circles, areas with
statistically significant elevations in preterm birth rates are concentrated in Oakland, just south of the
I-580 freeway. Another area with elevated rates is
West Oakland.
Click here to download the map in PDF.
 You can also
look at this map on InfoAlamedaCounty's online interactive
web mapping tool at
www.InfoAlamedaCounty.org. This interactive
interface allows the user to see the pilot project results
and map other information on the county, including demographics,
housing, and labor. It also allows the user
to zoom in to specific locations and to examine the
information by city, zip code, and census tract.
PRETERM BIRTH BY CITY
Reading the chart
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The dotted line across each chart shows the rate of preterm birth for all of California, which is 8.8%.
- The 95% confidence interval (CI) is the range of values that likely contains the true percent of preterm births within the population. The upper and lower limits of this range are indicated by the thin black lines on each bar on the chart. These are sometimes known as error bars.
- Rates (or percents) were calculated by dividing the total number of
preterm births by the total number of
live singleton births in Alameda County.
Figure 2. shows percent of preterm
birth by city in Alameda County. Similar to the maps,
percentages of preterm births varied across the county. The largest difference in percent is
between Albany and Oakland, where there is a three-fold difference
between 3.6% and 10.2%, respectively. Women living in
Oakland are also significantly more likely to have a preterm baby
as compared to women throughout the state. Although
geographically close to Oakland, the city of Berkeley's preterm birth
rate (6.6%) is significantly lower than the statewide rate (8.8%).
Click here to download a PDF of Figure 2.
We have also calculated percents of preterm birth
by city and ZIP code. Click below to download tables in PDF.
Preterm birth and TLBW by city- table
Preterm birth and TLBW by ZIP code- table
Go to:
Preterm birth disparities
Term low birthweight
disparities
Term low birthweight map
and tables
FAQs on
birth outcomes and results
Return to
the birth outcomes findings page
Pilot Project
Findings | Overview of Pilot Project Data and Methods |
Glossary of Scientific and Statistical Terms |
Additional Resources
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