PREVALENCE OF LOW-BIRTH-WEIGHT AMONG HISPANIC INFANTS WITH UNITED STATES-BORN AND FOREIGN-BORN MOTHERS - THE EFFECT OF URBAN POVERTY

Although Hispanics are a poorly educated and medically underserved min ority, the incidence of low birth weight (less than 2,500 g) Hispanic infants is similar to that of non-Hispanic whites. The authors used 19 82-1983 Illinois vital records and 1980 US census income data to deter mine the contribution of maternal nativity and place of residence to t his epidemiologic paradox. The proportion of low birth weight Hispanic (n = 22,892) infants ranged from 4.3% for Mexicans to 9.1% for Puerto Ricans. Maternal age, education, trimester of prenatal care initiatio n, and place of residence were associated with the prevalence of low b irth weight infants among Puerto Rican but not foreign-born Mexican or Central-South American mothers. In very low-income (less than $10,000 /year) census tracts, Mexican and other Hispanic infants with US-born mothers had low birth weight rates of 14 and 15%, respectively. In con trast, Mexican and other Hispanic infants with foreign-born mothers wh o resided in these areas had low birth weight rates of 3 and 7%, respe ctively. In a logistic model that included only impoverished infants, the adjusted odds ratio of low birth weight for those with US-born mot hers equalled 6.3 (95 percent confidence interval 2.3-16.9). The autho rs conclude that urban poverty is negatively associated with Hispanic birth weight only when the mother is Puerto Rican or a US-born member of another subgroup.