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 Red > 9.90 Green <= 12.35 In-between = Yellow Unit: percent View Legend | Babies with Low Birth Weight
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| What is this Indicator? The percent of mothers who had a live birth weighing less than 2,500 grams (5 pounds, 5 ounces), annually. | |||||||||
| Why this is important: Babies born with a low birth weight are more likely than babies of normal weight to require specialized medical care, and often must stay in the intensive care unit. Low birth weight is often associated with premature birth. While there have been many medical advances enabling premature infants to survive, there is still risk of infant death or long-term disability. The most important things an expectant mother can do to prevent prematurity and low birth weight are to take prenatal vitamins, stop smoking, stop drinking alcohol and using drugs, and most importantly, get prenatal care. | |||||||||
| Technical Note: Technical Note: The distribution is based on 72 neighborhoods in Orleans Parish. A birth weight of 2,500 grams (5.5 pounds) is the standard cutoff point used to define low birth weight. Neighborhood level estimates are calculated from three years of vital statistics data (2006-2008) in order to stabilize small values. Births are for those mothers who resided in Orleans Parish. The denominator is all live births in the neighborhood. Limitations of Data: Neighborhood level estimates are less reliable than Parish level due to small numbers. Likewise, rates from neighborhoods with large numbers of people are more accurate than those with small numbers. Nine percent of all births in Orleans parish (2006 to 2008) were not included in the neighborhood level estimates due to incorrect or unreported addresses, necessary for geo-coding to the neighborhood. However, this should not affect percentages if the omitted addresses are similar to those included in terms of demographics, socio-economic status, or other factors affecting birth-related outcomes. | |||||||||
| Source: Louisiana Department of Health and Human Services äóñ Vital Statistics | |||||||||
| URL of Data: >http://www.dhh.louisiana.gov/offices/reports.asp?ID=275&Detail=323 | |||||||||
| Update Frequency: Yearly | |||||||||
| Last Update: 2011-04-13 | |||||||||
| Maintained By: LOUISIANA PUBLIC HEALTH INSTITUTE | |||||||||
