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

ObjectiveResearch 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 n...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BMJ open Vol. 13; no. 3; p. e060932
Main Authors: Florian, Sandra, Ichou, Mathieu, Panico, Lidia, Pinel-Jacquemin, Stéphanie, Vrijkotte, Tanja G M, Harskamp-van Ginkel, Margreet W, Huang, Rae-Chi, Carson, Jennie, Rodriguez, Loreto Santa Marina, Subiza-Pérez, Mikel, Vrijheid, Martine, Fernández-Barrés, Sílvia, Yang, Tiffany C, Wright, John, Corpeleijn, Eva, Cardol, Marloes, Isaevska, Elena, Moccia, Chiara, Kooijman, Marjolein N, Voerman, Ellis, Jaddoe, Vincent, Welten, Marieke, Spada, Elena, Rebagliato, Marisa, Beneito, Andrea, Ronfani, Luca, Charles, Marie-Aline
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: England British Medical Journal Publishing Group 23.03.2023
BMJ Publishing Group LTD
BMJ Publishing Group
Series:Original research
Subjects:
Adult
Australia - epidemiology
Birth Weight
Child
Children & youth
Cohort analysis
Cohort Studies
Community child health
Data analysis
Education
Emigrants and Immigrants
Epidemiology
Europe - epidemiology
Families & family life
Family income
Female
Health behavior
Health policy
Health risk assessment
Health risks
Host country
Households
Human health and pathology
Humans
Immigrants
Life Sciences
Male
Maternal & child health
Migration
Mothers
Multiple births
Observational studies
Parents & parenting
Pediatrics
Pregnancy
PUBLIC HEALTH
Santé publique et épidémiologie
Socioeconomic factors
Source studies
STATISTICS & RESEARCH METHODS
Australia
Europe
Italy
Netherlands
France
PUBLIC HEALTH
Health policy
STATISTICS & RESEARCH METHODS
EPIDEMIOLOGY
Community child health
Europe
immigrants' children
Birth weight
child health
Australia
Epidemiology
International comparison
ISSN:2044-6055, 2044-6055
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:ObjectiveResearch 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?SettingWestern Europe and Australia.ParticipantsWe 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 measuresThe 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.ResultsTwo patterns in children’s birth weight by parental migration status emerged: higher birth weight among children of immigrants in France (+12 g, p<0.10) and Australia (+40 g, p<0.10) and lower birth weight among children of immigrants in the UK (−82 g, p<0.05) and the Netherlands (−80 g and −73 g, p<0.001) compared with natives’ children. Smoking during pregnancy emerged as a mechanism explaining some of the birth weight gaps between children of immigrants and natives.ConclusionThe immigrant health advantage is not universally transferred to children in the form of higher birth weight in all host countries. Further research should investigate whether this cross-national variation is due to differences in immigrant communities, social and healthcare contexts across host countries.
Bibliography:Original research
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ISSN:2044-6055
2044-6055
DOI:10.1136/bmjopen-2022-060932