Rate of premature birth high among immigrant women spending years in Canada-Research

Canada, 1st May: Maternal health of immigrant women can suffer after living in Canada, findings of a latest research indicate.

The study conducted at Toronto’s St. Michael Hospital shows that the rate of premature births increases significantly among immigrant women living in Canada for a period greater than five years than the rate when they arrived in Canada.

Longer stay in Canada increases risk of premature delivery among immigrant females--Working as an epidemiologist at St. Michael Hospital’s Center for Research on Inner City Health, lead author of the study, Dr. Marcelo Urquia states that the study noticed that immigrant women living in Canada for a short period did not seem to have any noticeable risk of giving delivery to premature women.

However, with greater time spent in Canada by the immigrant women, rate of premature delivery goes up significantly among them, she asserted.

The research findings highlight the fact that rate of giving birth to premature babies is quite low in new immigrant women in Canada as compared to Canada-born moms.

Poor neighborhoods affect immigrant women in Canada--The study gives special focus to effects of poor neighborhoods on immigrant women in Canada, while considering various economic and social levels, states Urquia. The longer, an immigrant women stay in poor neighborhoods after immigration to Canada, higher is the probability of giving birth to premature babies, the research indicates.

Rate of premature birth among Canada-born women is stated to be 7 percent for those living in poor neighborhoods while for those living in affluent living conditions, the rate happens to be 5.7 percent.

In case of immigrant women living in Canada for less than five years, rate of premature babies is stated to be 4.5 percent for those in poorer neighborhoods and 4.7 percent for those in affluent conditions, the study maintains.

Maternal nation of birth- a good sign of premature birth risk---Dr. Urquia states that maternal nation of birth emerged to be a vital indicator of the risk of premature delivery for the initial fifteen years in Canada. However, after the expiry of this period, the pattern seems to get reverse with immigrant women reaching inequalities in terms of premature delivery witnessed at neighborhoods among Canada-born women.

The study published in the Journal of Urban Health conducted reviews of birth figures from the year 2002 to 2007 from Ontario health statistics.