Low Birth Weight Rates Vary Regionally
Reported November 8, 2005
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — The first study of its kind has shown low birth weight varies more than threefold across the United States. The new research offers promise to health care officials on this significant risk factor of infant mortality.
A baby born with low birth weight weighs less than 5.5 pounds. Researchers know low birth weight is linked to factors like socioeconomic status, biological interaction between mom and fetus, and medical care. Public health programs aimed at reducing the number of low birth weight babies born each year, however, have been unsuccessful. In fact, in the past 10 years, the rates of low birth weight babies have increased.
Study results confirmed race as a factor in low birth weight. More than 11 percent of low birth weight babies are born to black mothers, while less than 5 percent are born to white mothers. Smoking and drinking during pregnancy doubles the risk of having a low birth weight baby. Gaining less than 20 pounds during pregnancy also doubles the risk. Even after adjusting for these obvious risk factors, however, researchers found babies born in some regions of the country were still more than three-times as likely to be born with low birth weight when compared to babies born in other regions.
Much of the far West coast, for example, had low birth weight rates far below the national average. Several states in the Midwest and the Southeast had significantly higher rates of low birth weight babies. Some states, like Florida and Texas, had varying regions within the state. Some were far above average, while others were far below and others showed no difference from the national average.
Lindsay Thompson, M.D., from Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, N.H., says, “I was surprised that the regional variation across the country was still so high after accounting for other known factors. It is clear that place of residence is an important factor in neonatal outcomes. This is encouraging because these regions are linked to social and healthcare systems, and these are amenable to improvement.”
SOURCE: Pediatrics, 2005;116:1114-1121