# Risk and strength: determining the impact of area-level racial bias and protective factors on birth outcomes.

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2021 · $138,007

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
There are large and persistent racial and ethnic disparities in preterm birth and low birth weight. Individual-level
risk factors do not fully explain the observed disparities. There is increasing evidence for the role of area-level
racial bias in explaining these disparities, but we currently lack both the measures, methods, and findings to
empirically evaluate its influence. The proposed research will advance the research in all 3 areas. We will be
using online and social media data and machine learning models to create two measures of area-level racial
bias and implement a robust research design to determine whether area-level racial bias impacts birth
outcomes. Our investigative team—comprised of experts in the field of epidemiology, health disparities,
machine learning, social media data, biostatistics, and community engaged research—is uniquely suited to
implement the study aims. Our Specific Aims are to 1) track and detect changes in area-level racial bias and
identify local and national race-related events during these time points, 2) determine the impact of changes in
area-level racial bias on changes in adverse birth outcomes, and 3) identify protective factors for adverse birth
outcomes. Because our data is collected repeatedly and finely across the United States, we can explicitly
account for temporal trends and place effects. The proposed study uses new data to capture trends in racial
bias with sophisticated machine learning models, and represents a critical advancement in the investigation of
racial disparities in birth outcomes.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10096177
- **Project number:** 1R01MD015716-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** Thu Nguyen
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $138,007
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-02-17 → 2021-08-22

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10096177

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10096177, Risk and strength: determining the impact of area-level racial bias and protective factors on birth outcomes. (1R01MD015716-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10096177. Licensed CC0.

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