TY - JOUR T1 - International migration and adverse birth outcomes: role of ethnicity, region of origin and destination JF - Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health JO - J Epidemiol Community Health SP - 243 LP - 251 DO - 10.1136/jech.2008.083535 VL - 64 IS - 3 AU - Marcelo Luis Urquia AU - Richard Henry Glazier AU - Beatrice Blondel AU - Jennifer Zeitlin AU - Mika Gissler AU - Alison Macfarlane AU - Edward Ng AU - Maureen Heaman AU - Babill Stray-Pedersen AU - Anita J Gagnon AU - for the ROAM collaboration Y1 - 2010/03/01 UR - http://jech.bmj.com/content/64/3/243.abstract N2 - Background The literature on international migration and birth outcomes shows mixed results. This study examined whether low birth weight (LBW) and preterm birth differed between non-migrants and migrant subgroups, defined by race/ethnicity and world region of origin and destination.Methods A systematic review and meta-regression analyses were conducted using three-level logistic models to account for the heterogeneity between studies and between subgroups within studies.Results Twenty-four studies, involving more than 30 million singleton births, met the inclusion criteria. Compared with US-born black women, black migrant women were at lower odds of delivering LBW and preterm birth babies. Hispanic migrants also exhibited lower odds for these outcomes, but Asian and white migrants did not. Sub-Saharan African and Latin-American and Caribbean women were at higher odds of delivering LBW babies in Europe but not in the USA and south-central Asians were at higher odds in both continents, compared with the native-born populations.Conclusions The association between migration and adverse birth outcomes varies by migrant subgroup and it is sensitive to the definition of the migrant and reference groups. ER -