The Differential Effect of Foreign-Born Status on Child's Health---A Nationwide Dynamic Birth Cohort

Since 1998, the number of transnational marriages in Taiwan has been increasing considerably and resulted in increasing number of infants of “foreign-born mothers (FBMs)”. In fact, the proportion of newborn of FBMs reached the peak (14%) in 2003. The health outcomes of these children of FBMs are important public health issues in our society. Previous studies, using the data of Taiwan Birth Registry (TBR), found that the incidence of preterm birth (＜37 weeks of gestational age), low birth weight (LBW, ＜2500g), and neonatal mortality (death during the first 10 days of life) was significantly lower in newborns of FBMs than those of Taiwanese-born mothers (TBMs). However, there is no significant different in orofacial clefts rate among the newborns of these two groups. The major drawbacks of the TBR are: (1) the health of the birth after ten days of life is unknown, (2) the health conditions during pregnancy for the mothers are under-reported, (3) the comorbid conditions before pregnancy for the mothers and the social economical status (SES) are not available. In this study, we will apply data from the Collaboration Center of Health Information Application, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taiwan, including TBR 2004-2010, National Health Insurance Research Data 2000-2012, and Taiwan Death Registry 2004-2012. We anticipate that at least 1.81 million mother-baby links to decipher the relationships between early life events and child health. We aim at: (1) compare the health outcomes between children of FBMs and those with TBMs. The health outcomes include preterm birth, LBW (at birth), mortality (up to age of five), congenital anomalies (up to age of five), and accidents and adverse effects (up to age of five). The reason of choosing accidents and adverse effects is that it is the number five cause of death for age less than one (4.2%) and number one cause of death for aged 1-4 (22.5%). (2) Compare the health conditions during pregnancy for two groups of mothers, so that the magnitude and type of misclassification can be obtained and its effects can be examined. (3) Explore the effect of disease condition before pregnancy for the mothers and SES on the health outcomes.

Project ID:PC10308-0991
External Project ID:MOST103-2314-B182-016