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The Risk of Neurodevelopmental Disabilities in Children of Immigrant and Refugee Parents: Current Knowledge and Directions for Future Research

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Abstract

This paper systematically reviewed the literature from 2002 to 2016 describing the risks of autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children of immigrant and refugee backgrounds. Compared to children of non-immigrant mothers, 10 studies found increased risk of autism and intellectual disability and four studies found increased risk of autism without identifying concomitant intellectual disability. Very high risks were observed if the mother’s country of birth was a developing country or region. One study found higher risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in a sample of children who were refugees. Children of immigrant and refugee backgrounds from developing countries had greater risks of a neurodevelopmental disorder compared to their peers whose mother was locally born.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Developmental Pathways Project at Telethon Kids Institute, Perth, Western Australia, for their support and funding of this study and her Ph.D.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Western Australia, PO Box 855, West Perth, WA, 6872, Australia

    Ifrah Abdullahi, Helen Leonard, Raewyn Mutch, Emma J. Glasson, Nicholas de Klerk & Jenny Downs

  2. School of Paediatrics and Child Health, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia

    Ifrah Abdullahi, Sarah Cherian & Raewyn Mutch

  3. Department of General Paediatrics, Perth Children’s Hosptial, Perth, WA, Australia

    Sarah Cherian & Raewyn Mutch

  4. School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia

    Jenny Downs

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  1. Ifrah Abdullahi
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  2. Helen Leonard
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  3. Sarah Cherian
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  4. Raewyn Mutch
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  5. Emma J. Glasson
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  6. Nicholas de Klerk
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  7. Jenny Downs
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Correspondence to Jenny Downs.

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This work was conducted as part of PhD study and the first author received a PhD scholarship from the Developmental Pathways Project, Telethon Kids Institute, Perth.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

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Abdullahi, I., Leonard, H., Cherian, S. et al. The Risk of Neurodevelopmental Disabilities in Children of Immigrant and Refugee Parents: Current Knowledge and Directions for Future Research. Rev J Autism Dev Disord 5, 29–42 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40489-017-0121-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40489-017-0121-5

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