TY - GEN A1 - Scholaske, Laura A1 - Brose, Annette A1 - Spallek, Jacob A1 - Entringer, Sonja T1 - The role of discrimination for the risk of preterm birth among Turkish immigrant women T2 - European Journal of Public Health N2 - Background: Preterm birth (PTB) is one of the most severe risk factors for early child death and developmental impairment. Epidemiological research suggests that immigrants from lower to higher income countries exhibit a health decline over time that is transmitted to the offspring generation in which health disparities become prevalent already at a very early age in terms of adverse birth outcomes. Perceived discrimination (PD) is discussed in the context of health disparities related to migration. The relationship between PD and health outcomes is still understudied among Turkish immigrants in Germany. We examined whether PD contributes to PTB risk in Turkish immigrant women. Methods: We used data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). The newborn questionnaire (“Mother-Child: Age 0-1”, 2003 – 2016, v33) provided information on birth outcomes and we included information on maternal socioeconomic situation, migration background and PD due to origin (for Turkish immigrant women only) that were collected in the survey before birth. The final sample comprised N = 2,525 (8.60% Turkish immigrant women). A dummy variable indicating occurrence of PTB (0 = non PTB, i.e. ≥ 37 wks of gestation, 1 = PTB, i.e. < 37 weeks of gestation) was used as the outcome variable in logistic regression models. Results: Logistic regression models on the whole sample indicated a higher risk of PTB among Turkish compared to German native women (OR: 2.75) that remained after adjusting for socioeconomic status. Within the subsample of Turkish women, prenatal PD was related to a higher risk for PTB (OR: 4.91). Conclusions: Unlike in other studies we found evidence for a higher prevalence of PTB among Turkish immigrant women in the SOEP data. PD may explain the prevalence of PTB among Turkish immigrant women in Germany. There is a need for further research examining the impact of discrimination on the intergenerational transmission of health disparities among Turkish immigrants in Germany. KW - premature birth KW - immigrants KW - turkish Y1 - 2018 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-UBICO/frontdoor/index/index/docId/22799 SN - 1464-360X SN - 1101-1262 VL - 28 IS - 4 SP - 192 EP - 192 ER -