Objectives:

To compare maternal and perinatal outcomes between Chilean and Peruvian pregnant women in Santiago, Chile, between January and July 2017.

Materials and methods:

Analytical cross-sectional study of 1,578 Chilean and 318 Peruvian women who attended a clinical hospital in Santiago. We conducted a comparative analysis of maternal and perinatal variables by nationality. Crude and adjusted logistic models were carried out with a 95% confidence interval (95% CI).

Results:

Peruvian pregnant women resided an average of 5.7 years in Chile, were older (28.1 ± 6.5 vs. 26.6 ± 6.5 years), had less unemployment (52.3% vs. 60.6%), were more likely to enter prenatal care (PC) late (OR: 2.17, 95% CI: 1.69-2.78) and had higher probability of having anemia (OR: 3.45, 95% CI: 2.13-5.56) associated with late entry to PC (adjusted OR: 0.43, 95% CI: 0.33-0.56). On the other hand, Chilean pregnant women were more likely to be obese upon entry to PC (OR: 2.48, 95% CI: 1.81-3.41) and at the time of delivery (OR: 2.03, 95% CI: 1.57-2.62). In addition, Chilean women had higher rates of gestational diabetes (GD) (OR: 2.12, 95% CI: 1.24-3.61), premature delivery (OR: 2.82, 95% CI: 1.59-5.01) and low birth weight (LBW) (OR: 3.10, 95% CI: 1.51-6.33). In the adjusted model, obesity was independently associated with GD (adjusted OR: 3.8, 95% CI: 2.44-6.18) and LBW (adjusted OR: 3.34, 95% CI: 2.33-4.85).

Conclusions:

The healthy immigrant effect was observed in pregnant Peruvian immigrants, mainly regarding the perinatal outcomes. It is necessary to promote early access to prenatal care and to stablish measures to prevent anemia and obesity, in order to avoid adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes in the studied population.

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