Comparison of pregnancy outcome between Immigrant women in couples with same ethnicity to mixed ethnicity couples.

AIM: To compare pregnancy outcome of immigrant women who became pregnant to a same ethnicity partner versus a partner from a different ethnicity.

METHODS: A retrospective cohort study on all singleton pregnancies of immigrant women who delivered between the years 2011-2015 in a single tertiary University affiliated Hospital. Demographic and obstetrical data were collected. Same ethnicity couples and mixed couples were compared using Pearson chi-square test for dichotomous variables, and Student's T-test for normally distributed continuous variables.

RESULTS: Overall, 443 immigrant women delivered during the study period, of them 294 (66.37%) had a same ethnicity spouse and 149 (33.63%) were part of a mixed couple. Women of same ethnicity couples were significantly younger (32.7 versus 35.05 years, p < 0.0001) and more likely to be nulliparous (48 versus 32%, p = 0.001), compare to women of mixed couples. The rate of episiotomy was significantly higher among women with a same ethnicity spouse in comparison to women of mixed couples (37.22 versus 23.85%, p = 0.01). There was no significant difference in all other obstetrical or perinatal outcomes tested.

CONCLUSIONS: Maternal component is the main factor for perinatal outcomes among immigrant mothers.