Differences in birth weight between immigrants’ and natives’ children in Europe and Australia: a LifeCycle comparative observational cohort study

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• dc.contributor.author Florian, Sandra
• dc.contributor.author Vrijheid, Martine
• dc.contributor.author Fernández-Barrés, Sílvia
• dc.contributor.author Charles, Marie-Aline
• dc.date.accessioned 2025-05-05T06:16:46Z
• dc.date.available 2025-05-05T06:16:46Z
• dc.date.issued 2023
• dc.description.abstract Objective Research on adults has identified an immigrant health advantage, known as the ‘immigrant health paradox’, by which migrants exhibit better health outcomes than natives. Is this health advantage transferred from parents to children in the form of higher birth weight relative to children of natives? Setting Western Europe and Australia. Participants We use data from nine birth cohorts participating in the LifeCycle Project, including five studies with large samples of immigrants’ children: Etude Longitudinale Française depuis l’Enfance—France (N=12 494), the Raine Study—Australia (N=2283), Born in Bradford—UK (N=4132), Amsterdam Born Children and their Development study—Netherlands (N=4030) and the Generation R study—Netherlands (N=4877). We include male and female babies born to immigrant and native parents. Primary and secondary outcome measures The primary outcome is birth weight measured in grams. Different specifications were tested: birth weight as a continuous variable including all births (DV1), the same variable but excluding babies born with over 4500 g (DV2), low birth weight as a 0–1 binary variable (1=birth weight below 2500 g) (DV3). Results using these three measures were similar, only results using DV1 are presented. Parental migration status is measured in four categories: both parents natives, both born abroad, only mother born abroad and only father born abroad. Results Two patterns in children’s birth weight by parental migration status emerged: higher birth weight among children of immigrants in France (+12 g, p<0.10) and Australia (+40 g, p<0.10) and lower birth weight among children of immigrants in the UK (−82 g, p<0.05) and the Netherlands (−80 g and −73 g, p<0.001) compared with natives’ children. Smoking during pregnancy emerged as a mechanism explaining some of the birth weight gaps between children of immigrants and natives. Conclusion The immigrant health advantage is not universally transferred to children in the form of higher birth weight in all host countries. Further research should investigate whether this cross-national variation is due to differences in immigrant communities, social and healthcare contexts across host countries.en
• dc.description.sponsorship The ELFE survey is a joint project between the French Institute for Demographic Studies (INED) and the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), in partnership with the French blood transfusion service (Etablissement français du sang, EFS), Santé publique France, the National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), the Direction générale de la santé (DGS, part of the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs), the Direction générale de la prévention des risques (DGPR, Ministry for the Environment), the Direction de la recherche, des études, de l’évaluation et des statistiques (DREES, Ministry of Health and Social Affairs), the Département des études, de la prospective et des statistiques (DEPS, Ministry of Culture), and the Caisse nationale des allocations familiales (CNAF), with the support of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research and the Institut national de la jeunesse et de l’éducation populaire (INJEP). The ELFE cohort also acknowledges the support from F Zariouh, M A Bellance, M Cornet and B de Lauzon-Guillain in harmonising the ELFE cohort data for the LifeCycle Project. The authors would like to acknowledge the Raine study participants and their families for their ongoing participation in the study and the Raine study team for study coordination and data collection. We also thank the NHMRC for their long-term contribution to funding the study over the last 30 years. The core management of the Raine study is funded by The University of Western Australia, Curtin University, Telethon Kids Institute, Women and Infants Research Foundation, Edith Cowan University, Murdoch University, The University of Notre Dame Australia and the Raine Medical Research Foundation. Born in Bradford is only possible because of the enthusiasm and commitment of the Children and Parents in BiB. We are grateful to all the participants, practitioners and researchers who have made Born in Bradford happen. The Generation R study is conducted by the Erasmus Medical Center in close collaboration with the School of Law and Faculty of Social Sciences of the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Municipal Health Service Rotterdam area, Rotterdam, the Rotterdam Homecare Foundation, Rotterdam and the Stichting Trombosedienst & Artsenlaboratorium Rijnmond (STAR-MDC), Rotterdam. We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of children and parents, general practitioners, hospitals, midwives and pharmacies in Rotterdam. We also acknowledge The University of Western Australia, Curtin University, Women and Infants Research Foundation, Telethon Kids Institute, Edith Cowan University, Murdoch University, The University of Notre Dame Australia and The Raine Medical Research Foundation for providing funding for the core management of the Raine study. INMA-Gipuzkoa is grateful to the participants of the study for their kind collaboration. The recruitment of participants and the development of the study was funded by grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI06/0867 and FIS-PI09/00090 incl. FEDER funds), Department of Health of the Basque Government (2005111093), Provincial Government of Gipuzkoa (DFG06/002), and annual agreements with the municipalities of the study area (Zumarraga, Urretxu, Legazpi, Azkoitia y Azpeitia y Beasain). We are grateful to all the participating children, parents, practitioners and researchers who took part in the INMA Sabadell study. We acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the 'Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2019-2023' Programme (CEX2018-000806-S), and support from the Generalitat de Catalunya through the CERCA Programme. The authors acknowledge the Piccolipiù Working Group and the families involved in the study. The Childhood Obesity Project (CHOP) thanks the participating families and all project partners for their enthusiastic support of the project. Furthermore, thanks to the European Childhood Obesity Trial Study Group, who designed and conducted the study, entered the data and participated in the data analysis. The authors are grateful to all the participants of the NINFEA birth cohort. We are grateful to the families who took part in the GECKO Drenthe study, the midwives, gynaecologists, nurses and GPs for their help for recruitment and measurement of participants, and the whole team from the GECKO Drenthe study.en
• dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
• dc.identifier.citation Florian S, Ichou M, Panico L, Pinel-Jacquemin S, Vrijkotte TGM, Harskamp-van Ginkel MW, et al. Differences in birth weight between immigrants’ and natives’ children in Europe and Australia: a LifeCycle comparative observational cohort study. BMJ Open. 2023 Mar;13(3):1-15. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-060932
• dc.identifier.doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-060932
• dc.identifier.issn 2044-6055
• dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10230/70270
• dc.language.iso eng
• dc.publisher BMJ Publishing Group
• dc.relation.ispartof BMJ Open. 2023 Mar;13(3):1-15
• dc.relation.projectID info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/2PE/CEX2018-000806-S
• dc.rights © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
• dc.rights.accessRights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
• dc.rights.uri http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• dc.subject.other Immigrantsca
• dc.subject.other Pes neonatalca
• dc.subject.other Civilització comparadaca
• dc.title Differences in birth weight between immigrants’ and natives’ children in Europe and Australia: a LifeCycle comparative observational cohort studyen
• dc.type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
• dc.type.version info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion