HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Data Supplement All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2007.127498v1 99/2/285    most recent Submit a response View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Urquia, M. L. Articles by Gagnon, A. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Urquia, M. L. Articles by Gagnon, A. J. Related Collections Epidemiology Birth Outcomes Socioeconomic Factors Immigration Urban Health

Marcelo L. Urquia, MSc, John W. Frank, MD, MSc, Richard H. Glazier, MD, MPH, Rahim Moineddin, PhD, Flora I. Matheson, PhD and Anita J. Gagnon, PhD, MPH, RN

Marcelo L. Urquia, John W. Frank, and Flora I. Matheson are with the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario. Richard H. Glazier and Rahim Moineddin are with the Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto. John W. Frank is also with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research–Institute of Population and Public Health, Toronto. Marcelo L. Urquia, Richard H. Glazier, and Flora I. Matheson are also with the Centre for Research on Inner City Health, St Michael's Hospital, Toronto. Richard H. Glazier and Rahim Moineddin are also with the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto. Anita J. Gagnon is with the School of Nursing and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Marcelo L. Urquia, Centre for Research on Inner City Health, St Michael's Hospital, 70 Richmond St East, Fourth Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5C 1N8, Canada. (e-mail: marcelo.urquia{at}utoronto.ca).

Objectives. We compared the influence of the residential environment and maternal country of origin on birthweight and low birthweight of infants born to recent immigrants to urban Ontario.

Methods. We linked delivery records (1993–2000) to an immigration database (1993–1995) and small-area census data (1996). The data were analyzed with cross-classified random-effects models and standard multilevel methods. Higher-level predictors included 4 independent measures of neighborhood context constructed by factor analysis and maternal world regions of origin.

Results. Births (N = 22 189) were distributed across 1396 census tracts and 155 countries of origin. The associations between neighborhood indices and birthweight disappeared after we controlled for the maternal country of origin in a cross-classified multilevel model. Significant associations between world regions and birthweight and low birthweight persisted after we controlled for neighborhood context and individual characteristics.

Conclusions. The residential environment has little, if any, influence on birthweight among recent immigrants to Ontario. Country of origin appears to be a much more important factor in low birthweight among children of recent immigrants than current neighborhood. Findings of neighborhood influences among recent immigrants should be interpreted with caution.