Nativity, Race, Ethnicity, and Hypertensive Disorders During Pregnancy

Area of Science:

• Perinatal epidemiology
• Sociology of health
• Public health

Background:

• The healthy immigrant effect suggests immigrants have better health outcomes than native-born populations.
• Previous studies explored this effect concerning pregnancy-related hypertensive disorders in minority groups.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between nativity, race, and ethnicity and the prevalence of pregnancy-related hypertensive disorders.
• To determine if the healthy immigrant effect is observable in hypertensive disorders during pregnancy.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective cohort study utilized data from the PRAMS CDC dataset.
• Chi-squared (Χ²) comparisons analyzed the prevalence of hypertensive disorders in foreign-born versus US-born mothers.
• Subgroup analyses were conducted for Black and Hispanic women.

Main Results:

• A total of 63,648 mothers were analyzed, revealing significant differences in gestational hypertension prevalence.
• US-born Black mothers (12.6%) had higher rates than foreign-born Black mothers (8.0%).
• US-born Hispanic mothers (9.5%) had higher rates than foreign-born Hispanic mothers (7.2%).
• Overall, US-born mothers (11.0%) showed higher rates than foreign-born mothers (7.0%).
• Hypertension eclampsia rates were also significantly higher in US-born Hispanic mothers (0.8%) compared to foreign-born Hispanic mothers (0.3%).

Conclusions:

• Foreign-born mothers exhibited a significantly lower prevalence of pregnancy-related hypertensive disorders compared to US-born mothers.
• This trend was consistent across the entire sample and within Black and Hispanic subsamples.
• Findings support the application of the healthy immigrant effect to pregnancy-related hypertensive disorders, especially for racial and ethnic minority women.