Table 1 Characteristics of the study population based on origin of the mother; accounting data from AOK Berlin, 2005–2007.

	Turkish		German		p value
	n	%	n	%
Age of the mother (in years)
Under 25	483	28.0	674	38.0	< 0.001
25–34	970	56.2	824	46.5
Over 34	274	15.9	275	15.5
Method of delivery
Spontaneous	1 308	75.4	1 329	75.0	0.796
Forceps	111	6.4	131	7.4
Caesarian section	308	17.8	313	17.7
Primary	119	6.9	127	7.2
Secondary	174	10.1	169	9.5
Other	15	0.9	17	1.0
Obesity
Yes	307	17.8	282	15.9	0.139
No	1 420	82.2	1 491	84.1
Above-average weight gain during pregnancy
Yes	77	4.5	56	3.2	0.044
No	1 650	95.5	1 717	96.8
Pre-eclampsia during pregnancy
Yes	562	32.5	483	27.2	< 0.001
No	1 165	67.5	1 290	72.8
Newborn baby overweight
Yes	54	3.1	56	3.2	0.957
No	1 673	96.9	1 717	96.8
Duration of pregnancy (in weeks)
5–13	25	1.5	48	2.7	< 0.001
14–19	13	0.8	26	1.5
20–25	15	0.9	24	1.4
26–33	19	1.1	46	2.6
34–36	53	3.1	83	4.7
37–41	1 401	81.1	1 257	70.9
41+	178	10.3	190	10.7
No details given	23	1.3	99	5.6
Premature birth (< 26th week)
Yes	312	18.1	251	14.2	0.001
No	1 415	81.9	1 522	85.8