Mexican-American Women's Lifelong Residence in the US is Associated with an Increased Risk of Gastroschisis: A Population-based Study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether nativity is associated with abdominal wall defects among births to Mexican-American women.

STUDY DESIGN: Using a cross-sectional, population-based design, stratified and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed on the 2014-2017 National Center for Health Statistics live-birth cohort dataset of infants of US-born (N=1,398,719) and foreign-born (N=1,221,411) Mexican-American women.

RESULTS: The incidence of gastroschisis was greater among births to US-born compared with Mexico-born Mexican-American women: 36.7/100,000 vs 15.5/100,000, RR = 2.4 (2.0, 2.9). US-born (compared with Mexico-born) Mexican-American mothers had a greater percentage of teens and cigarette smokers, p < 0.0001. In both subgroups, gastroschisis rates were highest among teens and decreased with advancing maternal age. Adjusting for maternal age, parity, education, cigarette smoking, pre-pregnancy body-mass index, prenatal care usage, and infant sex), OR of gastroschisis for US-born (compared with Mexico-born) Mexican-American women was 1.7 (95% CI 1.4, 2.0). The population attributable risk of maternal birth in the US for gastroschisis equaled 43%. The incidence of omphalocele did not vary by maternal nativity.

CONCLUSIONS: Mexican-American women's birth in the US versus Mexico is an independent risk factor for gastroschisis but not omphalocele. Moreover, a substantial proportion of gastroschisis lesions among Mexican-American infants is attributable to factors closely related to their mother's nativity.