CDC: Immigrant births bring healthier babies

ATLANTA - Federal health officials say Immigrant women giving birth in the United States are less likely to have complications than American-born women. <br> <br> But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also said Thursday that over the long term, immigrant mothers and babies face economic, cultural and language barriers to health care. <br> <br> The CDC compared births from immigrant and American-born women during 1990 and 2000. The agency found that immigrants accounted for one-in-five babies born in the U.S., mainly in the South and West. <br> <br> Babies of American-born mothers were more likely to give birth to a preterm infant -- 11.9 percent of the time versus 10.2 percent of babies of immigrant mothers. The agency said low birth weight babies were more likely for American-born mothers -- 7.9 percent of the time for American-born mothers compared to 6.4 percent of the time for immigrant mothers. <br> <br> The CDC said immigrants may have better social support networks that influence pregnancy positively.

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