Birth Weight of Infants born to Immigrant Women

High birthweight in an ethnic group of low socioeconomic status

“…An interesting aspect of our results is that the group of women of North African origin included a high proportion from the lowest social class, although over the whole sample we found no relation between birthweight and social class. Other studies have reported an association between low socioeconomic status and low, rather then increased, birthweight (Barron & Vessey 1966;Thomson et al 1968;Butler & Alberman 1969;Dowding 1981). It is noteworthy that social class differences in Israel are rather less marked than in many other countries (Ginor 1979); nevertheless, our results strongly support the finding of some of these earlier studies (Barron & Vessey 1966;Thomson et a/.…”

“…Other studies have reported an association between low socioeconomic status and low, rather then increased, birthweight (Barron & Vessey 1966;Thomson et al 1968;Butler & Alberman 1969;Dowding 1981). It is noteworthy that social class differences in Israel are rather less marked than in many other countries (Ginor 1979); nevertheless, our results strongly support the finding of some of these earlier studies (Barron & Vessey 1966;Thomson et a/. 1968: Butler & Alberman 1969) that, once maternal body size is taken into account, much of the apparent social-class effect on birthweight disappears.…”

“…Studies of births in Israel havedhown that Jewish women of North African origin give birth to heavier babies than do women from other ethnic groups, (Epstein 1960;Legg et al 1970;Grossrnan et al 1974;Palti & Adler 1977). This is in spite of the fact that families of North African origin are found predominantly in the lower socioeconomic groups in Israel (Ginor Studies from many other countries have also reported differences in mean birthweight, or in the incidence of low birthweight, between different ethnic or racial groups (Barron & Vessey 1966;Hytten & Leitch 1971;Grundy et al 1978;Eisner et al 1979). Although information about maternal body size is not always available, it is clear that these birthweight differences cannot be accounted for by differences in maternal height alone (Barron & Vessey 1966;Hytten & Leitch 197 I ;Grundy et al 1978).…”

Plasma Volume Changes in Pregnancy in Indian and European Primigravidas

“…Grundy et a1 (1978), in a community of West Indian, Indian and European origin, also recorded a reduction in birth weight in Indian infants with differences in maternal height, weight and weight gain during pregnancy like those found in our study. The reduction in birth weight is closely associated with these differences in maternal size and similar correction factors allow for these differences in all racial groups (Barron and Vessey, 1966). Similarly endocrine or ultrasonic assessment of fetal wellbeing will depend upon fetal size, which will vary between ethnic groups, as the result of variation in maternal size (Hutchins, 1978).…”

Customised birthweight: Coefficients for an Australian population and validation of the model

“…Birthweight is known to vary according to maternal characteristics and the sex of the baby. 1 However, a number of the published birthweight references, including those in Australia, [2][3][4] are in the form of multidimensional tables 5-7 which do not fully take into account the factors that influence birthweight. In addition, it is difficult to elucidate the underlying relationships between each of the factors that influence birthweight and the tables are cumbersome to use.…”