title: Maternal nationality and developmental delays in young children: Analysis of the data from the national registry in Taiwan.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  With globalization, transnational marriages become more and more common around the world. Children born to immigrant mothers might be more likely to have developmental delays, but studies on this topic are limited and with inconsistent results.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether children born to immigrant mothers are more likely to have developmental delays.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed the data from the national registry of children with developmental delays from 2009 to 2013 and compared the incidence of developmental delays between children born to immigrant mothers and native mothers. We also performed stratified analyses by age, sex, and geographic area.
  
  
  RESULTS
  From 2009 to 2013, 78,946 new cases of developmental delays under 6 years of age were registered, including 5619 (7.1%) born to immigrant mothers. The incidence was higher in children born to native mothers in every year with rate ratios ranging from 1.32 to 1.48, and the differences reached statistical significance even after stratification by age, sex, and geographic area.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Children born to immigrant mothers had lower incidence of developmental delays in Taiwan. The result may help reduce the discrimination of foreign spouses and their children.
authors.affiliation: Language Education Center and Department of Tourism, Food, and Beverage Management, Chang Jung Christian University, Tainan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yen-Cheng
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Tseng
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan. Electronic address: hrguo@mail.ncku.edu.tw.
authors.forename: How-Ran
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Ditmanson Medical Foundation Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, Chia-Yi, Taiwan; Department of Senior Citizen Service Management, Chia Nan University of Pharmacy & Science, Tainan, Taiwan. Electronic address: ych02315@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Der-Chung
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Lai
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000453:epidemiology*; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012042:Registries; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Developmental delays; Incidence; Maternal nationality; Registry