The association between language barriers and mode of delivery in mothers of children born preterm

Abstract

Language barriers is a known factor influencing perinatal health outcomes in migrant women. This study aimed to explore whether the linguistic distance from German (LDG) is associated to the mode of delivery in mothers of children born preterm.

This project used data from Hospital databases to study such association by operationalizing language barriers through linguistic distance to n (LDG), a continuous measure that assessed the linguistic difference in the mother’s mother tongue and the host’s country: German. The outcome was mode of delivery measured as an ordinal variable in four categories: spontaneous/vaginal birth, primary cesarean, secondary cesarean, and emergency cesarean. A ordinal logistic regression was used and 6 different models were tested, adjusting for relevant confounders like maternal age, parity, gestational age, migration status, medical conditions (e.g., diabetes, hypertension, preeclampsia), and education level.

LDG was found to be associated with having a more urgent type of delivery (CS) in any model, but the trend suggested that a greater language distance may slightly increase the odds of a more urgent delivery by caesarean section (aOR = 1.0038; 95% CI: 0.9968–1.0109; p = 0.2876). Variables that were significantly linked to higher odds of more urgent CS included multiple pregnancy, gestational age, placental abruption, and eclampsia.

Although LDG did not show a strong statistical effect, the trend suggests that language barriers may influence delivery decisions. These findings highlight the importance of better communication in maternity care and the need for more research in this area.