Maternal immigrant status and signs of neurodevelopmental problems in early childhood: The French representative ELFE birth cohort
Statut d'immigrant maternel et signes de problèmes neurodéveloppementaux dans la petite enfance: la cohorte de naissances ELFE
Résumé
Objectives: We studied the association between maternal immigrant status and early signs of neurodevelopmental problems, including early signs of autism spectrum disorder, in children.
Methods: We used data from the French representative Etude Longitudinale Française depuis l’Enfance (ELFE) birth cohort, initiated in 2011. The study sample included 9,900 children of non-immigrant French, 1,403 children of 2nd, and 1,171 children of 1st generation immigrant women followed-up to age 2 years. Neurodevelopmental delay was assessed using the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) and an adaptation of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (MB-CDI), a measure of lexical development. Data were analyzed using linear regression models adjusted for sociodemographics, maternal health, pregnancy and child characteristics, maternal psychosocial characteristics, and selected postnatal characteristics. In additional analyses, we investigated the combined impact of maternal immigrant status and maternal region of origin. Further, we assessed whether MB-CDI scores modified the relation between maternal immigrant status and the MCHAT score.
Results: In fully adjusted models, we found statistically significant associations between maternal immigrant status and M-CHAT scores, with stronger associations in children of 1st generation (β-coefficient: 0.18; 95% CI 0.08 – 0.28) than 2nd generation immigrants (β-coefficient: 0.09; 95% CI 0.00 – 0.17). This association was especially strong among children of 1st generation immigrant mothers native of North Africa vs. non-immigrant French women (β-coefficient 0.32; 95% CI 0.15 – 0.49) or French-speaking Sub-Saharan Africa countries (β-coefficient 0.25; 95% CI 0.06 – 0.44). MB-CDI scores were lowest among children of 1st generation immigrant mothers from a non-francophone countries. Children of 1st generation immigrant mothers were most likely to have simultaneously low MB-CDI and high M-CHAT scores.