Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Article
  • Published:

Residential mobility patterns and exposure misclassification in epidemiologic studies of birth defects

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 16, pages 538–543 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Many studies of environmental exposures and birth defects use mothers' addresses at delivery as a proxy for the exposure. The validity of these studies is questionable because birth defects generally occur within 8 weeks of conception and the mother's address at delivery may differ from her address early in pregnancy. In order to assess the extent of this bias, we examined the pattern of maternal residential mobility over the span of 3 months prior to conception through delivery, and associated maternal socio-demographic characteristics. We linked Texas subjects from a national case–control study of birth defects with their corresponding records from the Texas Birth Defects Registry and the Texas live birth certificates. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess maternal socio-demographic factors related to mobility during pregnancy. Overall, 33% of case and 31% of control mothers changed residence between conception and delivery. The pattern of mobility was similar for both case and control mothers for each pregnancy period. Multivariate analyses indicated that for case mothers, older age (OR=0.39, 95% CI=0.21–0.70), higher household income (OR=0.35, 95% CI=0.18–0.68), Hispanic ethnicity (OR=0.64, 95% CI=0.44–0.92), and higher parity (OR=0.59, 95% CI=0.38–0.94) were indicators of lower mobility during pregnancy. For control mothers, the same pattern of association was present, however, only older age was significantly associated with low rates of mobility. Studies of birth defects using maternal address at delivery as a proxy for maternal environmental exposures during pregnancy may be subject to considerable nondifferential exposure misclassification due to maternal mobility during pregnancy.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • CDC. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Vital Statistics Reports 2003: 52(10): 1–114.

  • CHS. Texas Department of State Health Services. Center for Health Statistics [Unpublished Data]. 2005.

  • Croen L.A., Shaw G.M., Sanbonmatsu L., Selvin S., and Buffler P.A. Maternal residential proximity to hazardous waste sites and risk for selected congenital malformations. Epidemiology 1997: 8(4): 347–354.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dolk H., Vrijheid M., Armstrong B., Abramsky L., Bianchi F., Garne E., Nelen V., Robert E., Scott JE., Stone D., and Tenconi R. Risk of congenital anomalies near hazardous-waste landfill sites in Europe: the Eurohazcon study. Lancet 2002: 352(9126): 423–427.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fell D.B., Dodds L., and King W.D. Residential mobility during pregnancy. Paediatr Perinatal Epidemiol 2004: 18: 408–414.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hennekens C.H., and Buring J.E. Cohort studies. In: Epidemiology in Medicine. 1st ed. Little, Brown and Company: Boston/Toronto, edited by Sherry L. Mayrent 1987, pp. 153–177.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khoury M.J., Stewart W., Weinstein A., Panny S., Lindsay P., and Eisenberg M. Residential mobility during pregnancy: implications for environmental teratogens. J Clin Epidemiol 1988: 41(1): 15–20.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Orr M., Bove F., Kaye W., and Stone M. Elevated birth defects in racial or ethnic minority children of mothers living near hazardous waste sites. Int J Hyg Environ Health 2002: 205(1–2): 19–27.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ritz B., Yu F., Fruin S., Chapa G., Shaw G.M., and Harris J.A. Ambient air pollution and risk of birth defects in Southern California. Am J Epidemiol 2002: 155(1): 17–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shapiro D. Migration as an economic process, 2005. Available at: http://econ.la.psu.edu/-dshapiro/463ic.htm. [accessed February 2005].

  • Shaw G.M., and Malcoe L.H. Residential mobility during pregnancy for mothers of infants with or without congenital cardiac anomalies. Arch Environ Health 1992: 47(3): 236–238. [A reprint].

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shaw G.M., Swan S.H., Harris J.A., and Malcoe L.H. Maternal water consumption during pregnancy and congenital cardiac anomalies. Epidemiology 1990: 1(3): 206–211.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • USDA. National agriculture library, rural information center. What is Rural? United States Department of Agriculture. 2005. Available: http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/rurality/RuralUrb/Con/. [accessed January 2005].

  • USCB. Geographic mobility. US Department of Commerce. 2001. Economics and Statistics Administration. US Census Bureau. Available at: http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/migration.html. [accessed September 2004].

  • Yoon P.W., Rasmussen S.A., Lynberg M.C., Moore C.A., Anderka M., and Carmichael S.L. The national birth defects prevention study. Public Health Reports. Supplements. 2001: 116: 32–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank all staff and collaborators who contributed in the development and implementation of this project. This research was funded by the Texas Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention, through Cooperative Agreement No. U50/CCU613232 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and the Texas Birth Defects Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch; at the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Texas Department of State Health Services, Birth Defects Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch, Austin, TX, USA

    Mark A Canfield, Tunu A Ramadhani & Peter H Langlois

  2. Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, University of Texas, Houston, TX, USA

    D Kim Waller

Authors
  1. Mark A Canfield
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Tunu A Ramadhani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Peter H Langlois
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. D Kim Waller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tunu A Ramadhani.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Canfield, M., Ramadhani, T., Langlois, P. et al. Residential mobility patterns and exposure misclassification in epidemiologic studies of birth defects. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 16, 538–543 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jes.7500501

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jes.7500501

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links