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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, 1997-2001, AND 2002

FIGURE 12
LOW BIRTH WEIGHT LIVE BIRTHS BY LOCAL HEALTH AREA
British Columbia, 1997-2001

• The provincial low birth weight (LBW) (less than 2,500 grams) live birth rate for 2002 was 52.72 per 1,000 live births, slightly lower than the 1997-2001 LBW rate (50.25).

• The five Local Health Areas (LHAs) with the highest LBW rates (based on at least five births) in 2002 (number of births in parentheses) were:
  

  078	Enderby	(6)	111.11
  025	100 Mile House	(10)	103.09
  012/013	Grand Forks/Kettle Valley	(9)	101.12
  030	South Cariboo	(5)	98.04
  027	Cariboo-Chilcotin	(27)	93.43

• The five LHAs with lowest LBW rates (based on at least five births) in 2002 (number of births in parentheses) were:
  

  020	Salmon Arm	(5)	23.92
  059	Peace River South	(9)	30.72
  071	Courtenay	(15)	33.04
  033	Chilliwack	(30)	37.97
  088	Terrace	(10)	38.31

• In 2002, Windermere, Princeton, Lake Cowichan, Stikine/Telegraph Creek, and Nisga'a did not have any low birth weight births, and there were 22 other LHAs with less than five LBW live births.

• There were four LHAs with low birth weight ratios for the period 1997-2001 that were statistically significant and high (number of births and LBW rate per 1,000 live births, in parentheses). These were:
  

  040	New Westminster	(194)	1.20	(60.29)
  036	Surrey	(1,446)	1.17	(58.86)
  165	Vancouver Midtown	(323)	1.17	(59.02)
  041	Burnaby	(575)	1.14	(57.04)

• There were 10 LHAs with low birth weight ratios for the period 1997-2001 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:
  

  026	North Thompson	(5)	0.38	(19.31)
  018	Golden	(9)	0.48	(24.06)
  055/093	Burns Lake/Eutsuk	(13)	0.51	(25.44)
  004	Windermere	(10)	0.52	(26.25)
  001	Fernie	(18)	0.53	(26.71)