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The differential effect of foreign‐born status on preterm birth: a Taiwan population‐based birth registry study
Author(s) -
See LC,
Shen YM,
Lo YJ
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
bjog: an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.157
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1471-0528
pISSN - 1470-0328
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-0528.2007.01393.x
Subject(s) - odds ratio , medicine , singleton , premature birth , confidence interval , obstetrics , pediatrics , population , pregnancy , demography , gestational age , biology , genetics , environmental health , sociology
Whether foreign‐born status confers a protective effect on preterm birth in Taiwan was investigated using singleton live birth data from the 2004 Taiwan Birth Registry ( n = 211 946). Newborns of foreign‐born mothers (FBMs) comprised 13.7% of the population. The preterm birth rate of newborns of FBMs (5.9%) was significantly lower than that of newborns of Taiwan‐born mothers (TBMs) (8.0%) ( P < 0.0001). After having adjusted for predisposing maternal factors or adverse pregnancy conditions, newborns of FBMs still had a lower risk in preterm birth than that of TBMs, with an odds ratio of 0.74 and 95% confidence interval between 0.71 and 0.79. Selection was hypothesised to explain the low preterm birth rate in FBMs.