Black premature baby girls born weighing 2.2 pounds or less are more than twice as likely to survive as white boys born at the same weight

Joyce Howard Price:

Research further showed that black female preemies with such a low birth weight are 1.8 times more likely to survive than their black male counterparts. It also found that premature black girls are 1.3 times more likely to live than premature white girls.

"When you're talking about survival," those differences are "very significant," said Dr. Steven B. Morse, a UF assistant professor of pediatrics and lead author of the report.

"We have known in general that females tend to have better survival rates than males, and blacks better than whites," he said. "But quantifying that and finding if there was a statistical significance had yet to be done."

Dr. Morse said it's still not clear why female and black premature infants have better chances of survival than boys and white infants born too soon.

But he suggested that part of the explanation could be that female preemies' lungs tend to be more developed at birth.

Dr. Herman A. Hein, professor of pediatrics at the University of Iowa, said prior research has shown that black women tend to have more premature babies than women of other races.

That is "possibly because their babies mature a little earlier and faster," which could explain why those infants have better odds of survival, he said.

I think the political correctness advocates are going to have a hard time blaming this on racism.

Girls and black infants have better chances of survival when born very premature

Low-Birth-Weight Black Babies Are Survivors