Bay Area Not Meeting National Objective for Low Birthweight Infants

African American babies faring worst;
Hispanic/Latino doing best

June 16, 2009

An analysis of data recently posted to kidsdata.org shows that neither California nor the six Bay Area counties meet the national Healthy People 2010 objective of having no more than 5 percent of babies born at low birthweight, as the chart below describes. In fact, throughout the Bay Area and California, the percentage of infants born at low birthweight increased slightly from 1995 to 2007.

Hispanic/Latino infants are least likely to be born at low birthweight in both California and four out of the six Bay Area counties. Across California and the Bay Area, more than one in 10 African American infants are born at low birthweight, the highest percentage for any race/ethnicity.

Low birthweight is measured by the percentage of babies who are born at less than 2,500 grams (or about 5 pounds, 5 ounces). Low birthweight babies face six to 10 times the risk of infant mortality and are at increased risk of long-term disabilities, including mental retardation, chronic respiratory problems, cerebral palsy, childhood psychiatric disorders, autism and hearing and vision impairments.

The Healthy People 2010 Objective, developed by the federal Department of Health and Human Services, set a target that by 2010 no more than 5 percent of babies be born at low birthweight.

Also recently updated on kidsdata.org are related data on prenatal care, which also are available by race/ethnicity.

Contact: Andy Krackov, senior director of public information, at (650) 736-0677 or andy.krackov@lpfch.org, if you have any questions.

To sign up for monthly updates about news, events and data regarding Bay Area children, visit http://www.lpfch.org/signup/index.html.