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Birth - Related
Statistics

TABLE 16:

Figure 12:

Highlights:
Tab 16/
Fig 12

Note: Ratio-Observed over the expected. Refer to Figure 1 to clarify geographical location of Local Health Areas.

• The provincial low birth weight (LBW) (less than 2,500 grams) live birth rate for 2000 was 51.33 per 1,000 live births, slightly higher than the 1995-1999 LBW rate (50.83).

• The five Local Health Areas (LHAs) with the highest LBW rates (based on at least five births) in 2000 (number of births in parentheses) were:
  

  010	Arrow Lakes	125.00	(5)
  078	Enderby	98.36	(6)
  025	100 Mile House	94.49	(12)
  077	Summerland	93.33	(7)
  011	Trail	88.76	(15)

• The five LHAs with lowest LBW rates (based on at least five births) in 2000 (number of births in parentheses) were:
  

  046	Sunshine Coast	26.91	(6)
  054	Smithers	29.85	(8)
  052	Prince Rupert	33.02	(7)
  085	Vancouver Island North	33.90	(6)
  088	Terrace	34.72	(10)

• In 2000, North Thompson and Snow Country did not have any low birth weight births.

• There were five LHAs with low birth weight ratios for the period 1995-1999 that were statistically significant and high (number of births and LBW rate per 1,000 live births, respectively, in parentheses):
  

  014	Southern Okanagan	1.49	(60)	(75.76)
  165	Vancouver Midtown	1.22	(366)	(62.12)
  163	Vancouver North East	1.19	(374)	(60.50)
  036	Surrey	1.17	(1,500)	(59.65)
  041	Burnaby	1.12	(578)	(56.83)

• There were ten LHAs with low birth weight ratios for the period 1995-1999 that were statistically significant and low, based on at least five births. The five lowest (number of births and LBW rate per 1,000 live births in parentheses) were:
  

  064	Gulf Islands	0.35	(9)	(17.68)
  063	Saanich	0.66	(74)	(33.70)
  059	Peace River South	0.67	(63)	(33.82)
  002	Cranbrook	0.75	(50)	(37.88)
  044	North Vancouver	0.77	(277)	(39.21)