Obstetrical health consequences of female genital mutilations/cuttings: evidence from Italian hospital discharge records

More than 230 million women live with FGM/C worldwide, a condition linked to adverse health consequences, and for which the quality of available health care is often inadequate. As it is hard to identify and reach migrant women with FGM/C living in host countries, the research on this population group in Europe is limited. This paper focuses on the Italian context. The aim is to investigate the probability for immigrants coming from countries where FGM/C is practiced to be hospitalised for FGM/C-related obstetrical issues, using data from Italian Hospital Discharge Records for the year 2019. Results show that an increase of 1 percent point in the home country FGM/C prevalence is correlated with an increase of 0.43% in the probability of being hospitalised for an FGM/C-related obstetrical condition. Further research should aim at differentiating between the FGM/C types, with a focus on the most harmful practices, i.e. infibulation, and at investigating other potential health consequences, such as physical, sexual and psychological conditions.