Trends and associations between maternal characteristics and infant birthweight among Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Tasmania, Australia: a population-based study

This study aimed to investigate the trends and associations of maternal characteristics and birthweight among Indigenous and non-Indigenous infants. This was a retrospective population-based study. Fourteen years (2005–2018) of birthweight and perinatal health data of live-born singletons and their mothers obtained from the Tasmanian Data Linkage Unit were used to assess the trends and associations between maternal characteristics and infant birthweight using regression modelling. Compared with non-Indigenous mothers (n = 76,750), Indigenous mothers (n = 3805) had a significantly higher prevalence of risk factors during the 14-year period. Although the prevalence of prepregnancy obesity and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) markedly increased in both groups, the rate of increase was higher (P