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Infants of immigrant parents in Italy. A national multicentre case control study
G Bona1, M Zaffaroni, F Cataldo
1Paediatric Department of Novara, University of East Piedmont A. Avogadro, Novara, Italy. Clinped@med.no.unopmn.it
Insights
Newborns of immigrant parents face higher risks of prematurity, low birth weight, and neonatal mortality. Improving social conditions and obstetric care for immigrant mothers can mitigate these health disparities.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal Health
- Public Health
- Sociodemographics
Background:
- Investigating the health status of newborns born to parents immigrating from developing nations.
- Observing trends in birth rates and immigrant populations in Italy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the health outcomes of infants born to immigrant parents in Italy.
- To compare health indicators between infants of immigrant and Italian parents.
Main Methods:
- A case-control study reviewing hospital records of 69,605 infants born in Italy between 1996-1997.
- Each infant of immigrant parents was matched with two control infants born to Italian parents immediately before and after.
Main Results:
- Infants of immigrant parents (5.6% of total) exhibited higher rates of prematurity, low birth weight, asphyxia, and neonatal mortality.
- Geographical variations noted, with higher prevalence in Northern-Central Italy (7%) versus Southern/Insular Italy (2.8%).
- Risk factors identified include higher parity, short gestational age, maternal infections, drug dependence, young maternal age, low income, and inadequate/inaccessible obstetric care.
Conclusions:
- Health issues in infants of immigrant parents are primarily linked to social disadvantages.
- Interventions should focus on improving social determinants, lifestyle factors, and obstetric care for immigrant women.
- Monitoring high-risk pregnancies among immigrant populations is crucial for better outcomes.
Background:
The aim of this study was to evaluate health state of newborns of immigrated parents from developing countries.
Methods:
Hospital records of 69,605 infants born during 1996/1997 in Italy were reviewed comparing, in a case-control study, each infant of immigrated parents to two infants born immediately before and after to Italian parents.
Results:
Of the 69,605 newborns 3906 (5.6%) were born to immigrated parents. This prevalence prolongs the increasing trend observed during the last 10 years of infants born to immigrated parents and reduces the fall of the birth rate linked to the few infants born to Italian parents. It was influenced by geographical factors, being higher in Northern-Central Italy (7%) than in Southern and Insular Italy (2.8%), as consequence of more elevated incomes in these Italian regions. The origin countries of immigrated parents were mainly Northern Africa (31.7%), Eastern Europe (18%) and Sub Saharan Africa (11.6%). Infants of immigrated parents showed higher incidences of prematurity, low birth weight, asphyxia and neonatal mortality rate than newborns with Italian parents. These higher incidences appeared related to some risk factors such as higher parity, short gestational age, some maternal infections, maternal drug dependence, maternal age less than 18 years, low familiar income, inadequate obstetric cares, difficulty to accessing the public health services.
Conclusions:
The health problems of infants with immigrated parents are mainly related to social disadvantage and can be overcome improving the social state, the lifestyles and the obstetric cares of the immigrated women, so as monitoring their risk pregnancies.