1. Receipt of routine preventive care among infant daughters and sons of immigrant mothers in Ontario, Canada: a retrospective cohort study.
- Author
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Pulver A, Guttmann A, Ray JG, O'Campo PJ, and Urquia ML
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Adult, Afghanistan ethnology, Female, Humans, India ethnology, Infant, Infant Health ethnology, Language, Male, Ontario, Residence Characteristics statistics & numerical data, Retrospective Studies, Sex Factors, Young Adult, Child Health Services statistics & numerical data, Emigrants and Immigrants statistics & numerical data, Gender Equity, Mothers, Preventive Health Services statistics & numerical data, Vaccination statistics & numerical data
- Abstract
Objectives: To explore gender disparities in infant routine preventive care across maternal countries of birth (MCOB) and by mother tongue among infants of Indian-born mothers., Setting: Retrospective population-based administrative cohort in Ontario, Canada (births between 2002 and 2014)., Participants: 350 366 (inclusive) healthy term singletons belonging to families with a minimum of one opposite gender child., Outcome Measures: Fixed effects conditional logistic regression generated adjusted ORs (aORs) for a daughter being underimmunised and having an inadequate number of well-child visits compared with her brother, stratified by MCOB. Moderation by maternal mother tongue was assessed among children to Indian-born mothers., Results: Underimmunisation and inadequate well-child visits were common among both boys and girls, ranging from 26.5% to 58.2% (underimmunisation) and 10.5% to 47.8% (inadequate well-child visits). depending on the maternal birthplace. Girls whose mothers were born in India had 1.19 times (95% CI 1.07 to 1.33) the adjusted odds of inadequate well-child visits versus their brothers. This association was only observed among the Punjabi mother tongue subgroup (aOR: 1.26, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.47). In the Hindi mother tongue subgroup, girls had lower odds of underimmunisation than their brothers (aOR: 0.73, 95% CI 0.54 to 0.98)., Conclusions: Gender equity in routine preventive healthcare is mostly achieved among children of immigrants. However, daughters of Indian-born mothers whose mother tongue is Punjabi, appear to be at a disadvantage for well-child visits compared with their brothers. This suggests son preference may persist beyond the family planning stage among some Indian immigrants., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)
- Published
- 2020
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