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Birth outcomes by neighbourhood income and recent immigration in Toronto
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Abstract
Objectives
Data sources
Analytical techniques
Main results
Keywords
Authors
Findings
Acknowledgements
References
Objectives
This article examines differences in birth outcomes by neighbourhood income and recent immigration for singleton live births in Toronto, Ontario.
Data sources
The birth data were extracted from hospital discharge abstracts compiled by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
Analytical techniques
A population-based cross-sectional study of 143,030 singleton live births to mothers residing in Toronto, Ontario from 1 April 1996 through 31 March 2001 was conducted. Neighbourhood income quintiles of births were constructed after ranking census tracts according to the proportion of their population below Statistics Canada’s low-income cutoffs. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios for the effects of neighbourhood income quintile and recent immigration on preterm birth, low birthweight and full-term low birthweight, adjusted for infant sex and maternal age.
Main results
Low neighbourhood income was associated with a moderately higher risk of preterm birth, low birthweight, and full-term low birthweight. The neighbourhood income gradient was less pronounced among recent immigrants compared with longer-term residents. Recent immigration was associated with a lower risk of preterm birth, but a higher risk of low birthweight and full-term low birthweight.
Keywords
preterm, low birthweight, socioeconomic factors, immigration
Authors
Marcelo L. Urquia (416-864-6060 x3340; marcelo.urquia@utoronto.ca) and John W. Frank are with the Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto. Richard H. Glazier is with the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences. Rahim Moineddin is with the Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto.
Findings
Despite improvements over time in indicators such as infant mortality and low birthweight, adverse birth outcomes continue to be a concern in industrialized countries. This is especially true for preterm birth, which is the single most important cause of perinatal mortality and is associated with infant morbidity and other long-term health consequences. [Full text]
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. The opinions, results, and conclusions are those of the authors and no endorsement by the Ministry is intended or should be inferred. Marcelo Urquia was supported by personal research grant (CIHR IOP-44972) of Dr. John Frank, Scientific Director of the Institute of Population and Public Health of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
References
