Background and Objective:
Although the health status of immigrants varies according to country of origin and resettlement, limited evidence exists on the health needs of those living in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Our study used large-scale linked socioeconomic and health records to understand the perinatal outcomes of immigrant mothers and their children living in Brazil.

Methods:
We linked nationwide birth registries to mortality records and socioeconomic data from the CIDACS Birth Cohort and studied singleton life births to low-income women (i.e., monthly familial income)

Results:
We studied 11,290,713 live births, of which 9,886 (0.1%) were born to immigrant mothers. Immigrant mothers were more likely older, literate, living in urban areas and less likely to receive social benefits. Immigrant women were more likely to have had a previous stillbirth (ORadj:1.16,95%CI:1.11-1.22), to delay the start of prenatal care (>1st trimester) (1.22,1.16-1.28), less likely to have C-section delivery (0.74, 0.71-0.77), to have a premature birth (0.89,0.82-0.95) or with low birth weight (0.74,0.68-0.81). However, we found no differences in mortality between children from immigrant and non-migrant mothers.

Conclusion:
Our results suggest that, although immigrant mothers might face barriers accessing healthcare, their newborns present better birth outcomes, which is possibly related to mothers’ health status. However, children born to immigrant mothers seem not to benefit from the same health advantages in their first year of life. The mechanisms underlying these relationships should be further investigated.