Low Birth Weight

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), infants who weigh less than 2,500 grams (5.5 pounds) at birth are considered to be of low birth weight (LBW). A 2004 joint study by WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimated that 15.5 percent of all babies born around the world were LBW, with a range of 3.3 percent to 38 percent. By 2010, that rate had changed only slightly despite concentrated global efforts to reduce such incidences. In fact, LBW rates continued to rise in many countries, including the United States. In 2013, approximately 8 percent of babies in the United States were born with low birth weight, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. LBW infants are twenty times more like than other infants to die in their first year of life and have a 50 percent higher chance of experiencing developmental problems. LBW also places infants at risk for developing vision and hearing problems and chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease later in life. The total number of low-birth-weight infants may be even higher than reported because approximately half of all newborns are not weighed within the first hour of their births. Approximately 95.6 percent of all LBW infants are born in developing countries, reflecting the overall pattern of health risks that are endemic in the world’s poorest regions. Those births are highly associated with preterm births, which occur before thirty-seven weeks of gestation.

Overview

Infants with low birth weight are more likely to be born to mothers who experience pregnancy complications, live in poverty, have poor nutrition, are underweight, do physically demanding work, are highly stressed, are of a minority race, smoke during pregnancy, drink alcohol excessively during pregnancy, are under the age of fifteen, or are between the ages of forty and fifty-four. LBW is also more common among mothers who have a history of giving birth to LBW infants, who become pregnant through in-vitro fertilization, or who give birth to multiples.

In 1990, a global effort to reduce the number of LBW infants was initiated at the World Summit for Children in New York City. Participating nations pledged to cut the number of LBW babies in their countries by 10 percent over the following decade. According to the 2004 report by UNICEF and the WHO, the rate of LBW in developing countries is 17 percent, more than double the rate in developed countries (7 percent). One-half of these LBW infants were born in south central Asia, where LBW infants comprised more than one-quarter of all births. The links between a high rate of LBW and poverty and a low level of government commitment to health care is clear. For instance, in India, where 28 percent of all infants were born with LBW in 2008, the government expends only 4.1 percent of GDP on health care, and the per capita income is only $3,900. By contrast, in the United States, where 8 percent of infants are born with LBW, the government commits 17.9 percent of GDP on health care and the per capita income is $42,600. Between 2009 and 2013, the rate of LBW was 13 percent in sub-Saharan Africa, 28 percent in South Asia, and 9 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to data compiled in 2014 by UNICEF.

Maternal malnutrition is a major factor resulting in LBW infants. According to the World Food Programme, 13.5 percent of people living in developing countries are undernourished; in sub-Saharan Africa, one person in four is undernourished. Furthermore, HIV/AIDS rates continue to rise in some sub-Saharan and East African countries, further contributing to LBW. Because of inadequate access to health care, mothers with HIV/AIDS regularly pass the disease to their infants.

In the United States, the percentage of LBW infants has been rising for several decades. Between 1990 and 2013, the rate rose from 7 percent to 8 percent. Health professionals note that the fact that more multiples are born in the United States only partially explains the rise. Non-Hispanic black mothers are most likely (13.3 percent) to give birth to LWB infants. The rate is higher for Native American and Alaskan Natives (7.5 percent) than for Non-Hispanic whites (7.1 percent). Hispanic mothers have the lowest incidence (7 percent) of giving birth to LBW infants.

Significant progress has been made in gathering data on the number of LBW infants born each year. Efforts such as the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and the “A World Fit for Children” referendum have established goals for reducing LBW rates. These efforts have been hampered by global economic woes and political turmoil. However, international organizations are succeeding in efforts to improve prenatal health and nutrition for pregnant mothers in countries at greatest risk.

Bibliography

Conley, Dalton, et al. The Starting Gate: Birth Weight and Life Chances. Berkeley: U of California P, 2003. Print.

Kamat, Deepak M., and Philip R. Fischer. Textbook of Global Child Health. Elk Grove: American Academy of Pediatrics, 2011. Print.

"Low Birthweight: Percentage of Infants Weighing Less than 2,500 Grams at Birth." Data.UNICEF.org. UNICEF, Oct. 2014. Web. 24 June 2015.

Martin, Joyce A., et al. "Births: Final Data for 2013." National Vital Statistics Report 64.1 (2015): 1–68. PDF file.

Nugent, J. Kevin, et al., eds. Enabling Healthy Infant Development Worldwide. Hoboken: Wiley, 2009. Print.

“Preterm Birth and Low Birth Weight.” America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2013. ChildStats.gov, Federal Interagency Forum on Child Family Statistics. 2013. Web. 31 July 2013.

Schwartz, David A. “Challenges in Improvement of Perinatal Health in Developing Nations.” Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. 137.6 (2013): 742–46. Print.

Sinha, Setu, and Bijoy Mukherjee. Low Birth Weight. Germany: Lambert Acad., 2012. Print.

UNICEF. “The State of the World’s Children 2009: Maternal and Newborn Health.” UNICEF.org. UNICEF, n.d. Web. 22 July 2013.

Wardlaw, Tessa, et al. “Low Birthweight: Country, Regional, and Global Estimates.” UNICEF.org. UNICEF/WHO. Web. 22 July 2013.

“A World Fit for Children.” UNICEF.org. UN General Assembly, 11 Oct 2002. Web. 22 July 2013.