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Published May 17, 2021 | Version v1.0.0
Masters Thesis Open

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Low Birth Weight Between US-and Foreign-Born Women

Abstract

Objective: This study explores national differences in low birth weight (LBW) outcomes in the US by individuals race/ethnicity and nativity. The objective is to examine the weathering and healthy immigrant hypotheses using evidence on LBW prevalence across US- versus foreign-born residents.Methods: This study used the 2018 Natality Public Use File from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). The outcome of interest was all LBW births, which includes any infant born at < 2500 grams. Chi square tests were conducted to estimate LBW prevalence across maternal demographic characteristics. Two models were estimated using modified Poisson regression to determine whether initial racial/ethnic differences in US- versus foreign-born LBW rates were primarily a function of differences in individual characteristics.Results: The rate of LBW for the entire sample (N = 3,602,085) was 6.65%. Compared to LBW prevalence for non-Hispanic White women (5.30%, p < 0.001), LBW was 123% higher for non-Hispanic Black women (11.81%), 33% higher for non-Hispanic Asian women (7.03%), and 17% higher for Hispanic women (6.19%). The rate of LBW was 13% higher for women born in the United States (6.83%) than for those born outside the United States (6.05%, p < 0.001.). Across all racial/ethnic groups, foreign-born mothers had lower LBW prevalence and were less likely to have LBW infants than were their native-born counterparts. Compared to US-born non-Hispanic White women, foreign-born status decreased the risk of LBW across all racial/ethnic groups: from 1.00 to 0.83 (0.80-0.85) for White women, 1.73 (1.71-1.75) to 1.12 (1.10-1.15) for Black women, 1.39 (1.35-1.44) to 1.20 (1.18-1.23) for Asian women, 1.13 (1.12-1.15) to 0.90 (0.88-0.91) for Hispanic women, and 1.08 (1.06-1.10) to 0.98 (0.94-1.03) for other women.Discussion: Foreign-born status is associated with lower risk of LBW within each racial/ethnic subgroup. This corresponds to the healthy immigrant hypothesis, which suggests that many foreign-born mothers are likely healthy immigrants most able to move to the United States. With non-Hispanic White women exhibiting the lowest LBW rates regardless of immigrant status, it is important to further analyze the association between race/ethnicity, nativity, and birth outcomes. This might be understood through the weathering hypothesis, which suggests that cumulative exposure to social inequalities and racialized stressors can lead to higher rates of LBW.

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AbbottKathryn_LATE_79066_11470606_Abbott Final CE Paper.pdf
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Additional details

Created:
March 31, 2023
Modified:
March 31, 2023