Abstract
To determine the age-related patterns of low birth weight, preterm birth, and intrauterine growth retardation among first generation and established US-born Mexican-American mothers. We performed stratified analyses on an Illinois transgenerational dataset of Mexican-American infants (1989-1991) and their mothers (1956-1976) with appended U.S. census income information. In Cook County, Illinois established (second or higher generation) US-born Mexican-American women (N = 2,006) had a low birth weight (<2,500 g) rate of 6.2% compared to 4.8% for first generation us-born mexican-american women (n="1,450)," rr="1.3" (1.0-1.6). in both subgroups, low birth weight, preterm, and intrauterine growth retarded components rates did not increase with advancing maternal age. first generation 30-35 year old us-born mexican-american women (n="159)" had a low birth weight rate of 3.1% compared to 4.2% for their teen counterparts (n="386)," rr="0.8" (0.3-2.0). established 30-35 year old us-born mexican-american women (n="330)" had a low birth weight rate of 4.9% compared to 7.4% for their teen counterparts (n="459)," rr="0.7" (0.4-1.2). there was no evidence of weathering among us-born mexican-american mothers with a lifelong residence in lower income neighborhoods, with a general downward trend in low birth weight rates with increasing age until age 30-35. rates of low birth weight, preterm birth, and intrauterine growth retardation do not increase with advancing age among first generation and established us-born 15-35 year old mexican-american women. this trend persists among both generations of women with a lifelong residence in lower income neighborhoods.>
