Differences in birth weight between immigrants’ and natives’ children in Europe and Australia: a LifeCycle comparative observational cohort study

Autor: Martine Vrijheid, John Wright, Luca Ronfani, Marie-Aline Charles, Eva Corpeleijn, Vincent Jaddoe, Marisa Rebagliato, Tanja G M Vrijkotte, Rae-Chi Huang, Lidia Panico, Tiffany C Yang, Loreto Santa Marina Rodriguez, Sandra Florian, Mathieu Ichou, Stéphanie Pinel-Jacquemin, Margreet W Harskamp-van Ginkel, Jennie Carson, Mikel Subiza-Pérez, Sílvia Fernández-Barrés, Marloes Cardol, Elena Isaevska, Chiara Moccia, Marjolein N Kooijman, Ellis Voerman, Marieke Welten, Elena Spada, Andrea Beneito
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Zdroj: BMJ Open, Vol 13, Iss 3 (2023)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2044-6055
DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-060932
Popis: Objective Research on adults has identified an immigrant health advantage, known as the ‘immigrant health paradox’, by which migrants exhibit better health outcomes than natives. Is this health advantage transferred from parents to children in the form of higher birth weight relative to children of natives?Setting Western Europe and Australia.Participants We use data from nine birth cohorts participating in the LifeCycle Project, including five studies with large samples of immigrants’ children: Etude Longitudinale Française depuis l’Enfance—France (N=12 494), the Raine Study—Australia (N=2283), Born in Bradford—UK (N=4132), Amsterdam Born Children and their Development study—Netherlands (N=4030) and the Generation R study—Netherlands (N=4877). We include male and female babies born to immigrant and native parents.Primary and secondary outcome measures The primary outcome is birth weight measured in grams. Different specifications were tested: birth weight as a continuous variable including all births (DV1), the same variable but excluding babies born with over 4500 g (DV2), low birth weight as a 0–1 binary variable (1=birth weight below 2500 g) (DV3). Results using these three measures were similar, only results using DV1 are presented. Parental migration status is measured in four categories: both parents natives, both born abroad, only mother born abroad and only father born abroad.Results Two patterns in children’s birth weight by parental migration status emerged: higher birth weight among children of immigrants in France (+12 g, p
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