Mother's education and ethnicity effect on health measures for children in the Haifa Subdistrict

Objective: This study aimed to assess the association between the health markers of vaccination coverage, birth weight, hemoglobin levels and nutritional status with the ethnic origin and the mother's educational status among all infants born in 1995 and toddlers born in 1994 in the Haifa subdistrict. Methods: The data on vaccination coverage rates and other different measures was collected from the Mother and Child Health (MCH) centers in the Haifa subdistrict. MCH centers were categorized into 4 levels of mother educational status (MES) using the distribution of the average number of years of schooling of the registered children's mothers. Results: 1. More than half of the Arab sector in this study were classified in the lowest level of MES, while only 3% of the Jewish sector in this study were classified in this level. 2. No significant association between vaccine coverage rate and MES or ethnicity was found. 3. The percentage of low birth weight was higher among Jews, 4. No consistent association between birth weight and MES. 5. The rate of children with anemia was higher in Arabs (18%) than in Jews (10%). 6. No significant association between anemia and MES in both sectors. Conclusions: Differences in health measures were found to be associated with ethnicity but not with mother educational status. Arabs were found to be at higher risk for anemia and probable improper nutrition habits than Jews. Thus appropriate health promotion programs should be targeted towards this group, especially programs to improve the hemoglobin levels.