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Pregnancy Complications Among Resettled Refugees in Illinois

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Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Newly resettled refugee populations often have significant health care needs including pregnancy complications; yet research is lacking on pregnancy complications among refugees in Illinois. This was a retrospective analysis of the 2016–2017 hospital discharge data of refugee women of childbearing age (15–44 years) in Illinois. There were 3,355 hospital encounters by refugee women in our analysis, and 19.1% (n = 640) were associated with complications mainly related to pregnancy. The majority of hospital encounters associated with complications mainly related to pregnancy occurred after the first 8 months of US arrival (85.2%) and were among women who had Medicaid insurance (90.3%), ≥ 5 hospital encounters (60.2%), and who were most commonly from Iraq (23.3%) or Burma (19.4%). Refugee women may benefit from increased awareness and education about prenatal care, support in access, and prompt referrals.

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Funding

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Prevention and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases (ELC), Project K: Global Migration, Border Interventions and Migrant Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health Sciences, Henry Ford Health System, One Ford Place, 48202, Detroit, MI, USA

    Eric Adjei Boakye

  2. Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI, USA

    Eric Adjei Boakye

  3. Illinois Department of Public Health, Office of Policy, Planning and Statistics, Division of Patient Safety and Quality, Chicago, IL, USA

    Anh-Thu Runez

  4. Illinois Department of Public Health, Center for Minority Health Services, Chicago, IL, USA

    Chantel C. Hoskin Snelling, Jessica R. Lamberson, Veronica Halloway & Ngozi Ezike

  5. Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Gayathri S. Kumar

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  1. Eric Adjei Boakye
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  2. Anh-Thu Runez
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  3. Chantel C. Hoskin Snelling
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  4. Jessica R. Lamberson
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  5. Veronica Halloway
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  6. Ngozi Ezike
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  7. Gayathri S. Kumar
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Contributions

Eric Adjei Boakye: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing, Supervision, Final approval. Anh-Thu Runez: Conceptualization, Data curation, Writing - review & editing, Final approval. Chantel C. Hoskin Snelling: Methodology, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing, Final approval. Jessica R. Lamberson: Methodology, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing, Final approval. Veronica Halloway: Writing - review & editing, Final approval. Ngozi Ezike: Writing - review & editing, Final approval. Gayathri S. Kumar: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data curation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing, Supervision, Final approval.

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Correspondence to Eric Adjei Boakye.

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Adjei Boakye, E., Runez, AT., Hoskin Snelling, C.C. et al. Pregnancy Complications Among Resettled Refugees in Illinois. J Immigrant Minority Health 25, 1–7 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-022-01388-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-022-01388-8

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