Birth weight is the weight of an infant at the time of delivery. A baby's birth weight is a strong predictor of health later in life.[1] Birth weight is influenced by many factors such as the mother's age, birth intervals, type of birth, lifestyle factors, the physical and social environment, and more.[2]
Babies born with low birth weight (2,500 grams or less) have an increased risk of health problems. This includes poor cognitive development in childhood and chronic diseases in adulthood.[3],[4] Babies born with high birth weight (4,500 grams or greater) have an increased risk of obesity in adulthood, type 2 diabetes, asthma, and high blood pressure.[5]
| Low and high birth weight babies |
About the MeasureThis data is collected from the Better Outcomes Registry and Network (BORN), a provincial program that collects data related to mother and infant health.[6] A newborn is classified to be low birth weight (LBW) if they weigh less than 2500g. A newborn is classified to be high birth weight (HBW) if they weigh more than 4500g. Key FindingsAcross Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph, the percentage of newborns with LBW or HBW varied slightly between 2013 and 2018. LBW babies accounted for a greater percentage of total births than HBW babies. Wellington tends to have a lower percentage of LBW babies and a slightly higher percentage of HBW babies compared to Guelph and Dufferin. This data can be found in the downloadable Excel file at the bottom of this page.
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Source: BORN, 2013-18. Prepared by Health Analytics Team, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health. WDG Report Card Coalition (distributor). Extracted May 29, 2019.
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Source: BORN, 2013-18. Prepared by Health Analytics Team, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health. WDG Report Card Coalition (distributor). Extracted May 29, 2019.
LimitationsThe data are entered by hospital staff or retrieved electronically from the hospital's database. As a result, estimates may be an underrepresentation of the true prevalence of the low and high birth weight babies.
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[1] Association of Public Health Epidemiologists in Ontario. (2015). Birth weights. Available at: http://core.apheo.ca/index.php?pid=142
[2] Shah, P., & Ohlsson, A. (2002). Literature review of low birth weight, including small for gestational age and preterm birth. Toronto, Toronto Public Health.
[3] Richards, M., Hardy, R., Kuh, D., & Wadsworth, M. E. (2001). Birth weight and cognitive function in the British 1946 birth cohort: longitudinal population based study. Bmj, 322(7280), 199-203.
[4] Curhan, G. C., Willett, W. C., Rimm, E. B., Spiegelman, D., Ascherio, A. L., & Stampfer, M. J. (1996). Birth weight and adult hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and obesity in US men. Circulation, 94(12), 3246-3250.
[5] Palatianou, M. E., Simos, Y. V., Andronikou, S. K., & Kiortsis, D. N. (2014). Long-term metabolic effects of high birth weight: a critical review of the literature. Hormone and Metabolic Research, 46(13), 911-920.
[6] Better Outcomes Registry and Network Ontario. (2017). About BORN. Ottawa, ON: Available at: https://www.bornontario.ca/en/about-born/