Maternal birthplace and major congenital malformations among New York Hispanics.

BACKGROUND

Little is known about the association between maternal nativity and congenital malformations among Hispanics living in the United States.

METHODS

We conducted a cross-sectional study to investigate the association between maternal nativity and various congenital malformations among singleton live-births born to Hispanic women in New York from 1993 to 2001. Birth certificates, used to identify maternal birthplace, were linked with congenital malformation registry files to obtain birth defects outcome. We examined how the risk of birth defects varied by maternal birthplace by estimating the adjusted odds ratios (aORs) using logistic regression.

RESULTS

A foreign maternal birth showed statistically negative associations with overall congenital malformations (aOR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.68-0.73), cardiovascular defects (aOR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.77-0.93), central nervous system defects (aOR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.63-0.91), and multiple defects (aOR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.74-0.86). Specifically, foreign-born Hispanic women were statistically at reduced risk to deliver live babies with cleft palate (aOR, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.40-0.80), atresia and stenosis of rectum or anus (aOR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.35-0.97), and craniosynostosis (aOR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.51-0.99). Hispanic mothers born in Puerto Rico had a similar risk of delivering children with birth defects compared to U.S.-born Hispanic mothers. In contrast, Hispanic mothers born in Mexico, or Cuba and Central and South America were at reduced risk of delivering infants with overall congenital malformations (aOR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.60-0.67) and (aOR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.63-0.68), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Foreign-born Hispanic mothers had a slightly lower risk to deliver live-born singleton infants with major congenital malformations than did U.S. born Hispanic mothers.