For Life: Differences in Perinatal Health Between the Offspring of Immigrant and Spanish-Born Mothers

• Sol P. Juárez ^[2] ; Chiara Dello Iacono ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidad de Salamanca

     Universidad de Salamanca

     Salamanca, España

     
  2. [2] Centre for Health Equity Studies, Stockholm University/Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
• Localización: Multidisciplinary perspectives on immigrant health: New insights from Spain / coord. por Mikolaj Stanek, Sol Pía Juárez, Miguel Requena y Díez de Revenga, 2025, ISBN 978-3-031-82351-0, págs. 63-89
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Birthweight has been extensively used to construct perinatal indicators for identifying and monitoring newborns at risk. These indicators include measures such as low birthweight (<2500 grams irrespective of gestational age) and being small for gestational age (e.g., birthweight below the tenth percentile for a given gestational age). Determinants of adverse health at birth encompass biological and behavioral factors, often exhibiting a social pattern, with the highest prevalence observed in families of low socioeconomic status. Given the strong link between health and social outcomes throughout the life course, perinatal health is considered a vital dimension for examining how inequalities are (re)produced in society. Although immigrants are categorized as a socially vulnerable group experiencing multiple disadvantages, such as racism and discrimination, international evidence indicates that the offspring of foreign-born (immigrant) mothers often experience similar or even better perinatal health outcomes than their counterparts in the receiving country, which supports the healthy immigrant paradox. In this chapter, we conduct a narrative synthesis of the literature based on a systematic search using two electronic databases (PubMed and Web of Sciences) to identify quantitative studies published in peer-reviewed journals before March 2023. These studies were written in English or Spanish and include the birthweight outcomes of the offspring of immigrant women residing in Spain, with comparison groups consisting of the offspring of Spanish-born women. Using the vote-counting method, we assessed 28 studies that met our inclusion criteria. The findings of our review generally confirm the perinatal health advantage of small children among the offspring of most immigrant-origin mothers in Spain, except for those of African and Asian descent, compared with children of Spanish-born women. However, mothers from most immigrant origins exhibited higher risks than Spanish-born ones of delivering children with macrosomia (high birthweight), which challenges the interpretation of immigrants’ health advantage.