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TABLE 15:

Figure 11:

Highlights:
Tab 15/
Fig 11

TABLE 15
LOW BIRTH WEIGHT LIVE BIRTHS BY
AGE OF MOTHER AND GENDER
British Columbia, 2001

FIGURE 11
LOW BIRTH WEIGHT LIVE BIRTHS BY AGE OF MOTHER
British Columbia, 2001

• In 2001, there were 2,008 live births with low birth weight (less than 2,500 grams). The provincial low birth weight (LBW) live birth rate was 49.73 per 1,000 live births.

• Among live births in 2001, 4.6% of the 20,721 male births had low birth weight (962) and 5.3% of the 19,655 female births had low birth weight (1,046).

• Of the low birth weight live births, 52.1% were females.

• Mothers aged 30-34 had the lowest LBW rates (44.52 per 1,000 live births) in 2001, followed by the 25-29 and 20-24 year maternal age groups (47.52 and 49.81 low birth weight births per 1,000 births respectively). The LBW rates by maternal age groups (shown in Figure 11) do not include the less than 15 year age group since there were no births in this group. The LBW rates by maternal age groups (shown in Figure 11) are lowest in the 30-34 year age group and tend to increase rapidly as mother's age increases.