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Stillbirth in Western Australia, 2005–2013: the influence of maternal migration and ethnic origin
Author(s) -
Mozooni Maryam,
Preen David B,
Pennell Craig E
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/mja18.00362
Subject(s) - medicine , demography , odds ratio , ethnic group , confidence interval , obstetrics , logistic regression , population , confounding , pregnancy , white british , ethnic origin , cohort study , environmental health , biology , sociology , anthropology , genetics
Objective: To investigate prevalence rates and the risk of ante‐ and intrapartum stillbirth in Western Australia with respect to maternal country of birth and ethnic origin. Design, setting and participants: Whole population retrospective cohort analysis of de‐identified, linked routinely collected birth, perinatal and mortality data for all births to non‐Indigenous women in WA during 2005–2013. Main outcome measures: Crude and adjusted odds ratios (aORs) with 95% confidence intervals were estimated by logistic regression and adjusted for confounding factors, for all stillbirths, antepartum stillbirths and intrapartum stillbirths, stratified by migrant status and ethnic background (white, Asian, Indian, African, Māori, other). Results: Women born overseas were more likely to have a stillbirth than Australian‐born women (aOR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.09–1.37). There was no significant difference for any type of stillbirth between Australian‐born women of white and non‐white backgrounds, but non‐white migrant women were more likely than white migrants to have a stillbirth (OR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.19–1.70). Compared with Australian‐born women, migrants of Indian (aOR, 1.71; 95% CI, 1.17–2.47), African (aOR, 2.12; 95% CI, 1.46–3.08), and “other” ethnic origins (aOR, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.06–1.93) were more likely to have antepartum stillbirths; women of African (aOR, 5.08; 95% CI, 3.14–8.22) and “other” (aOR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.15–3.00) background were more likely to have an intrapartum stillbirth. Conclusions: Immigrants of African or Indian background appear to be at greater risk of ante‐ and intrapartum stillbirth in WA. Specific strategies are needed reduce the prevalence of stillbirth in these communities.