BIBLIOGRAPHIC INPUT SHEET TEMPORARY Patterns of mortality ...

Chapter IM. Birth Weight 43
Baltimore (Taback, 1951), New York City Fia. 23. Percentage Distribution of Livo Births
(Department of Health, 1963), and New by 19}60. Birth Weight, by Ethnic Group, United States,
York State (Chase, 1961-1963).
As staff members of the Pan American
Health Organization, Verhoestraete and
Puffer (1958-a) were concerned about the 30 I 'NONWHITI
%WHITE
distribution of live births by birth weight for
countries of the world. Available data were ­
10 NONWHITE
limited but information was collected from
several sources to illustrate the variations " 'n"
09
3 I
in several ethnic groups (Figure 22). Al-
I0
though the distributions of live births in the '*
Io
United States and in Birmingham, Eng-
-,I
land, showed the same general weight dis- 0 leol,,osllol ootIse,,oeIse t. .. . 0.- ....,
.... .... O8
tributions, the births in other ethnic groups.. .............. . I. :
appeared to have a shift to the left, that is,
WEIGHTIN GRAM
to lower weights. However, even in the s..... vit.i st.atit.. . fh. .it St.t. (1901.
birth-weight distributions in the white and
nonwhite populations of the United States there were differences, with smaller percentages
of nonwhites in the higher weight
groups (Figure 23). Also, while in the
Fia. 22. Percentage Distribution of Live Births United States 0.47 l)er cent of white births
by Birth Weight for Five Selected Areas or Groups. were in the birth-weight group of 1,000
10 grams or less in 1950, only 0.29 prr cent
were in that group in Birmingham, England,
// in 1953.
30 - IIn International Comparisons of Perinatal
I I'
and infant Mortality, Chase (1967)
referred to "low-rate" countries in which
. .// infants weighing 2,500 grams or less consti­
20 a~
0 ] .j
1Z
tuted 5 per cent of the live births, such
countries including tile Netherlands, Sweden,
and New Zealand. According to the
"0 ,'.I- notifications of premature infants made to
the British Ministry of Health in 1963, 7.4
.s,
per cent weighed 2,500 grams or less. Butler
0-. and Alberman (1969) gave a frequency of
1.,000 2,000 .VA 4.000 .000 7.9 per cent for live births and stillbirths in
WEIOHTIN GAMS
the week of 3-9 March 1958, in the British
- UNITEDS , ........... IMINGHAM.ENGLAND,93 Perinatal Mortality Survey; only 0.36 per
-- CALCUTTA.INDIAN - -.- SOUTH AFEICA.INDIAN
-- SOUTHA,ICA.,ANTU cent had birth weights under 1,001 grams,
in contrast to 0.57 in the United States in
Sote., Adopted fro. V@,1h..trefrt 6d .. P. 119 1- 0 -I. 1960.