Olorunsaiye Comfort Z, Huber Larissa R Brunner, Ouedraogo Samira P
Department of Public Health, Arcadia University, 450 S Easton Road, Glenside, PA 19038, USA.
Department of Public Health Sciences, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 9201 University City Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA.
Int J MCH AIDS. 2023;12(1):e621. doi: 10.21106/ijma.621. Epub 2023 Apr 28.
Despite guidelines recommending an interval of at least 18-24 months between a live birth and the conception of the next pregnancy, nearly one-third of pregnancies in the United States are conceived within 18 months of a previous live birth. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between multiple immigration-related variables and interbirth intervals among reproductive-aged immigrant and refugee women living in the United States.
This was a cross-sectional, quantitative study on the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) of reproductive-aged immigrant and refugee women in the United States. The data were collected via an online survey administered by Lucid LLC. We included data on women who had complete information on nativity and birth history in the descriptive analysis (n = 653). The exposure variables were immigration pathway, length of time since immigration, and country/region of birth. The outcome variable was interbirth interval (≤18, 19-35, or ≥36 months). We used multivariable ordinal logistic regression, adjusted for confounders, to determine the factors associated with having a longer interbirth interval among women with second- or higher-order births (n = 245).
Approximately 37.4% of study participants had a short interbirth interval. Women who immigrated to the United States for educational (aOR = 4.57; 95% CI, 1.57-9.58) or employment opportunities (aOR = 2.27; 95% CI, 1.07-5.31) had higher odds of reporting a longer interbirth interval (19-35 or ≥36 months) than women born in the United States. Women born in an African country had 0.79 times the odds (aOR = 0.79; 95% CI, 0.02-0.98) of being in a higher category of interbirth interval.
Although all birthing women should be counseled on optimal birth spacing through the use of postpartum contraception, immigrant and refugee women would benefit from further research and policy and program interventions to help them in achieving optimal birth spacing. SRH research in African immigrant and refugee communities is especially important for identifying ameliorable factors for improving birth spacing.
尽管指南建议活产与下次怀孕之间至少间隔18 - 24个月，但在美国，近三分之一的怀孕是在前次活产后18个月内发生的。本研究的目的是探讨多个与移民相关的变量与居住在美国的育龄移民和难民妇女的生育间隔之间的关联。
这是一项关于美国育龄移民和难民妇女性与生殖健康（SRH）的横断面定量研究。数据通过Lucid LLC管理的在线调查收集。在描述性分析中，我们纳入了有完整出生地和生育史信息的女性数据（n = 653）。暴露变量为移民途径、移民后的时间长度以及出生国家/地区。结局变量是生育间隔（≤18、19 - 35或≥36个月）。我们使用多变量有序逻辑回归，并对混杂因素进行调整，以确定与二胎及以上生育的女性生育间隔较长相关的因素（n = 245）。
约37.4%的研究参与者生育间隔较短。因教育目的（调整后的比值比[aOR]=4.57；95%置信区间[CI]，1.57 - 9.58）或就业机会移民到美国的女性，报告生育间隔较长（19 - 35或≥36个月）的几率高于在美国出生的女性。出生在非洲国家的女性处于较高生育间隔类别的几率为0.79倍（aOR = 0.79；95% CI，0.02 - 0.98）。
尽管所有分娩女性都应通过产后避孕接受关于最佳生育间隔的咨询，但移民和难民妇女将从进一步的研究以及政策和项目干预中受益，以帮助她们实现最佳生育间隔。对非洲移民和难民社区的性与生殖健康研究对于确定改善生育间隔的可改善因素尤为重要。
