Size at Birth in an Inner-City Population

Abstract

Recent comparisons of growth curves and incidence of low birth weight are available for Caucasians and African-Americans or Hispanics. To compare size at birth in Hispanics with African-Americans in an inner-city population, we analyzed data on mother-infant pairs admitted to Jacobi Medical Center from January 1, 1995 until May 31, 1997 and those with a gestational age less than 34 weeks admitted from June 1, 1997 until December 31, 1997. The population mostly included mothers covered by Medicaid. The study sample included 2852 infants (1641 Hispanics and 1211 African-Americans). Among singletons, the incidence of teenage pregnancy was higher and those of premature delivery and low birth weight were lower in Hispanics than in African-Americans. Among full-term singletons, boys were heavier than girls (difference 116 g, confidence interval (CI) 57,174, p < 0.001 after adjusting for gestational age, gender, and teenage pregnancy), and Hispanics were heavier than African-Americans (adjusted difference 70 g, Confidence Interval (CI) 11,128, p = 0.019). Additional studies are needed to assess the effect of race on neonatal size after adjusting for differences in prepregnancy weight, weight gain, parity, social class, or other factors.

Racial Differences in Birth Weight of Term Infants in a Northern California Population

“…We did not find significant differences between male and female Hispanic infants in any of these measures of fetal growth, for example. This result contrasts with the finding of Cazano et al 10 that Hispanic females had significantly lower weights, shorter lengths, and smaller head circumferences than their male counterparts. This difference may result from differences in the ethnic origins of ''Hispanic'' subjects, as those included in Cazano's study from New York City were probably mostly of Puerto Rican, but those in our California sample were predominantly Mexican.…”

“…These reference ranges typically have been based on White 4,7 or predominantly White 8,9 American population samples. However, those reference ranges may not be applicable to minority populations, including Black, 6,10 Mexican American, 11 and Japanese or Chinese 12 infants. Thomas et al 6 recently demonstrated that use of growth curves that do not take race and gender into consideration may lead to inaccurate diagnosis of infants as small (SGA) or large (LGA) for gestational age.…”

Sociocultural factors that affect pregnancy outcomes in two Dissimilar Immigrant Groups in the United States

“…[37][38][39][40] Use of these growth curves may result in an inaccurate categorization of small for gestational age and its postnatal complications. In this study we assessed birth weight against the standard for the white population and used a birth weight Ͻ2500 g to define LBW.…”

Birth weight at high altitudes in Peru

“…Birth weight is an important marker of morbidity and mortality in newborns [1]. During the past 50 years, epidemiological studies have demonstrated that extreme childbearing ages [2,3], cigarette smoking [4], urban poverty [5], race [6], and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) [7] may influence birth weight. High altitude has been associated with IUGR and low birth weight in the United States [8] and the Andean countries, and several studies have demonstrated that in high altitude locations, altitude rather than economic status was associated with low birth weight [7,9,10,11].…”