Risk for neural tube defect-affected pregnancies among women of Mexican descent and white women in California.
OBJECTIVE
This study investigated a previously reported 50% or more increased risk for neural tube defect-affected pregnancies among Latina women compared with White women.


METHODS
Data were derived from a population-based case-control study of fetuses and live-born infants with neural tube defects in a 1989-through-1991 California birth cohort. Interviews were conducted with mothers of 538 (88% of eligible) infants/fetuses with neural tube defects and mothers of 539 (88%) nonmalformed control infants.


RESULTS
The risk for a neural tube defect-affected pregnancy was approximately twice as high among women of Mexican descent than among White women (odds ratio = 1.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.5, 2.8). The odds ratio for Mexico-born Mexican women compared with White women was 2.4 (95% CI = 1.7, 3.2), whereas the risk for US-born women of Mexican and other racial/ethnic descent was not substantially higher than that for Whites. The higher risk among Mexico-born Mexican women was not attributable to differences in numerous studied parental characteristics and exposures.


CONCLUSIONS
Given that nearly 20% of all California births are to Mexico-born Mexican women, the increased risks observed are relevant to the population burden of neural tube defects.
Shaw
G M
GM
March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, California Birth Defects Monitoring Program, Emeryville 94608, USA.
Velie
E M
EM
Wasserman
C R
CR
D000328:Adult; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008423:Maternal Age; D017058:Mexican Americans; D009436:Neural Tube Defects / Q000208:ethnology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012307:Risk Factors; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D044465:White People