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Statistics

TABLE 16:

Figure 12:

Highlights:
Tab 16/
Fig 12

TABLE 16
LOW BIRTH WEIGHT LIVE BIRTHS BY GESTATIONAL AGE
British Columbia, 1996-2000, AND 2001

FIGURE 12
LOW BIRTH WEIGHT LIVE BIRTHS BY LOCAL HEALTH AREA
British Columbia, 1996-2000

• The provincial low birth weight (LBW) (less than 2,500 grams) live birth rate for 2001 was 49.73 per 1,000 live births, slightly lower than the 1996-2000 LBW rate (50.54).

• The five Local Health Areas (LHAs) with the highest LBW rates (based on at least five births) in 2001 (number of births in parentheses) were:
  

  010	Arrow Lakes	148.94	(7)
  071	Courtenay	72.37	(33)
  048	Howe Sound	71.08	(29)
  031	Merritt	70.00	(7)
  027	Cariboo-Chilcotin	69.84	(22)

• The five LHAs with lowest LBW rates (based on at least five births) in 2001 (number of births in parentheses) were:
  

  054	Smithers	23.15	(5)
  002	Cranbrook	29.91	(7)
  070	Alberni	30.93	(9)
  045	West Vancouver-Bowen Is.	33.78	(10)
  052	Prince Rupert	36.70	(8)

• In 2001, South Cariboo, Hope, Snow Country, Burns Lake/Eutsuk and Lake Cowichan did not have any low birth weight births.

• There were six LHAs with low birth weight ratios for the period 1996-2000 that showed statistically significant and high (number of births and LBW rate per 1,000 live births, respectively, in parentheses). These were:
  

  014	Southern Okanagan	1.55	(60)	(78.43)
  040	New Westminster	1.21	(197)	(61.03)
  163	Vancouver North East	1.20	(364)	(60.64)
  165	Vancouver Midtown	1.19	(341)	(59.92)
  036	Surrey	1.18	(1,477)	(59.76)
  041	Burnaby	1.14	(580)	(57.39)

• There were nine LHAs with low birth weight ratios for the period 1996-2000 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:
  

  018	Golden	0.42	(8)	(21.45)
  064	Gulf Islands	0.49	(12)	(25.00)
  055/093	Burns Lake/Eutsuk	0.60	(16)	(30.53)
  059	Peace River South	0.68	(60)	(34.54)
  069	Qualicum	0.72	(48)	(36.36)