Pregnancy & Infant Health
Healthy childhood development starts with healthy pregnancies and healthy infants. This section focuses on maternal behaviours while pregnant, indicators that measure the health of births in our community, and infant feeding.
Low Birth Weights
What does this measure?
Low birth weight rates are a measure of the health of infants born in our community. Low birth weight rate is the rate of live births weighing less than 2,500 grams (5.5 pounds) at birth per the total live births with a valid weight.
Why is this important?
Low birth weight is a vital population health indicator as it occurs more often in disadvantaged populations. Risk factors associated with low birth weight include:
- socio-economic disadvantage
- poor health and nutrition of women during pregnancy
- smoking while pregnant
- consumption of drugs and alcohol while pregnant
- experiencing abuse while pregnant
Low birth weight is widely used and is a determinant of infant survival, health and development. Most infants with low weight at birth have typical development and outcomes. However, they are at a greater risk of:
- dying during the first year of life
- growth problems
- illness and chronic health problems
- various development issues
How are Hastings and Prince Edward Counties doing?
In Hastings and Prince Edward Counties (HPEC), the rate of infants born with a birth weight of less than 2,500 g (5.5 lbs) was generally higher than the provincial rate (see graph below). However, the differences are not statistically significant. Overall, there was a minor trend of increased low birth weight rate over time in HPEC. For more comparisons of low birth rate and other reproductive health indicators, see the Reproductive Health Snapshot from Public Health Ontario.