1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«The study objectives were to describe recent provincial trends in the proportion of births to immigrant mothers and to determine whether disparities in birth outcomes according to immigrant maternal birthplace vary across the provinces.» (p. 13)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
The study uses the Vital Statistics-Birth Database. «Managed by Statistics Canada, the Vital Statistics–Birth Database includes birth registration records provided by the provincial and territorial vital statistics registrars. The study population included all singleton live births from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2016.» (p. 13)

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

The results of the study show that «the proportion of births to immigrant mothers increased in recent years, surpassing the 30% mark for the first time in 2016. However, increases were uneven across the provinces.» (p. 16) The proportion doubled in Québec over the period. The rates of preterm births (PTB) varies across provinces for different reasons. «For instance, the risk of PTB among Central American mothers may be higher in Quebec and lower in Manitoba and Ontario because presumably less healthy immigrants were attracted to Quebec and disproportionally admitted as refugees […].» (p. 19) «In contrast, results for birth weight were much more consistent across geographic areas […]. For example, 65% of all births to Northern African mothers occurred in Quebec, the only province where infants born to Northern African mothers had higher birth weights than those of the Canadian-born mothers. It is possible that this exception is related to self-selection, with healthier immigrants settling in Quebec based on French language affinity and established ethnic communities.» (p. 19)