Your pregnancy story starts with … a nineteen thirty-five map?!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Gestational diabetes is rising across Southern California. And rates are especially high in certain zip codes. Could neighborhood history play a role?
Enter Wajeeha Umer and team from University of California, Irvine. They analyzed nearly eighty-seven THOUSAND pregnancies using health records. Then, they matched each address to Depression-era redlining maps. Back then, lenders labeled some neighborhoods “hazardous.” Often by race.
Women in redlined areas showed THIRTY percent higher diabetes risk! Weight and poverty explained nearly half the link. Those red lines didn’t just block mortgages. They denied grocery stores and parks – for generations.
Maps changed, but bodies remember!
References: Umer, W., Sun, Y., Jiao, A., Lincoln, K. D., Li, M., Avila, C. C., Chiu, V. Y., Slezak, J. M., Sacks, D. A., Molitor, J., Benmarhnia, T., Chen, J. C., Getahun, D., & Wu, J. (2025). Association of Historical Redlining With Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: The Mediating Role of BMI and Area Deprivation Index. Diabetes Care, 48(5), 711-718. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc24-2147