Maternal, Perinatal, and Infant Health of Disaggregated Asian American Subgroups: A Scoping Review

We present a conceptual framework for understanding Asian American (AsA) heterogeneity and conducted a scoping review to identify trends and gaps in research regarding perinatal health for disaggregated AsA groups.

We reviewed 50 articles published since 2010, which show substantial heterogeneity of health status, causes of disparities, and exposure-outcome associations by AsA subgroups. Chinese, Filipino, and Indian subgroups were the most reported and Southeast Asian subgroups were the least. Birth outcomes were frequently studied while preconception and postpartum health outcomes were sparsely examined. Existing studies focus on individual-level risk factors, were based almost exclusively in US coastal locations, and rarely engaged theories of upstream determinants of health.

Current perinatal health studies for AsA subgroups represent a narrow population, geography, and research scope. Future research should frame AsA disparities in the context of immigration history, systemic racism, and cultural specificity.