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Background: The prevalence of gastroschisis is increasing in many parts of the world, although the etiology is largely unexplained. Young maternal age has been the only consistently identified, strong risk factor. The objective of this study was to examine the role of maternal nativity in relation to other suspected risk factors for gastroschisis in Florida., Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of singleton infants born in Florida from 1998-2003. Gastroschisis cases were identified from the Florida Birth Defects Registry. Demographic and perinatal data were obtained from birth records. Multivariable Poisson regression was used to estimate adjusted prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for each factor of interest., Results: The 6-year birth prevalence of gastroschisis was 3.26 per 10,000 live births, and the annual rate increased 41% during the study period. In addition to maternal age and marital status, maternal race/ethnicity and nativity were significantly associated with the risk of delivering an infant with gastroschisis. Compared with non-Hispanic white women, non-Hispanic black women had the lowest risk of delivering an infant with gastroschisis (PR, 0.19; 95% CI, 0.13-0.26), followed by Hispanic women (PR, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.43-0.83). Women born outside the United States were significantly less likely than U.S.-born women to deliver an infant with gastroschisis (PR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.41-0.86)., Conclusions: Although young maternal age remains a strong significant risk factor for gastroschisis in Florida, other factors such as maternal race/ethnicity and nativity could be important in explaining the increasing prevalence of gastroschisis.

Background: Birth defects and preterm birth (PTB) are leading causes of infant morbidity and mortality in the United States. Infants with birth defects are more likely to be born preterm (<37 weeks), yet the roles of maternal ethnicity and fetal growth in this relationship are unclear. This study aimed to assess the risk of PTB among non-Hispanic (NH) Black, NH-White, and Hispanic infants with congenital heart defects (CHD), adjusting for fetal growth., Methods: Florida Birth Defects Registry data were used to conduct a retrospective cohort study on 14,319 live-born infants with CHDs born January 1, 1998 to December 31, 2002. ORs and 95% CIs were computed for each growth category (small-for-gestational age [SGA], appropriate-for-gestational-age [AGA], and large-for-gestational-age [LGA]) by ethnicity and adjusted for maternal and infant covariates using logistic regression., Results: After adjusting for potential confounders, SGA and AGA NH-Black infants with CHDs had increased risk of PTB compared to NH-White infants with CHDs (OR 1.79; 95% CI: 1.40, 2.30 and OR 1.89; 95% CI: 1.68, 2.13, respectively). Hispanic SGA, AGA, and infants with CHDs had no increased risk of PTB compared to NH-White infants., Conclusions: The increased risk of PTB among SGA and AGA NH-Black infants with CHDs is not explained by the overall disparities in risk of PTB between NH-Blacks and NH-Whites. Additional studies are needed to determine the specific subtypes of CHD for which these relationships are present and if these findings are seen among infants with other birth defects.