Very Low Birth Weight Infants Among Latinx Women in the United States: Is the Paradox Lost?

Within the context of this paper, the “Latinx paradox” refers to the observation that Latinx women, despite fewer resources, have comparable risks of delivering low birth weight infants compared with non-Latinx White women. Whether this paradox exists among infants with very low birthweight (VLBW) remains unclear. Using 2016–2019 US natality data (n=12,621,156), VLBW rates were examined among Latinx compared withother groups. The data was further stratified by nativity (foreign-born (FB) and US-born (USB). Adjusted (socioeconomic and health-related confounders) nested multivariable logistic regression models were developed. The reference group was USB non-Latinx White women. The VLBW rate was 0.97% for Latinx women (n= 2,671,945) and 0.76% for non-Latinx White women (n=7,738,273). When stratified by nativity, the ratewas 1.03% for USB Latinx women (n=1,521,232) and 0.9% for FB Latinxwomen (n=1,150,713). These are both increased compared with USB non-Latinx White women (0.78%). The unadjusted model produced the following results: OR:1.33; 95% CI: 1.30-1.35 for USB Latinx women and OR: 1.16; CI:1.13-1.18 for FB Latinx women compared with the reference group. Within the adjusted model, odds of VLBW were increased for USB Latinx women (OR: 1.45: CI: 1.42-1.48) and FB Latinx women (OR: 1.36; CI: 1.33-1.40). The “Latinx paradox” is not observed with VLBW infants when Latinx women are compared with non-Latinx White women, and the absence of paradox holds for those who are USB or FB. This supports prior studies that healthcare disparities, as well as disparities in other areas experienced by racial and ethnic minority groups in the US, affect VLBW rates.