The differential effect of foreign-born status on preterm birth: a Taiwan population-based birth registry study.
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.
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Department of Public Health, College of Medicine, Change Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan. lichu@mail.cgu.edu.tw
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D000328:Adult; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008423:Maternal Age; D011247:Pregnancy; D047928:Premature Birth / Q000208:ethnology*; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology