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Determinants of low birthweight: a comparative study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Barthelemy Kuate Defo  and
Melissa Partin
Barthelemy Kuate Defo
Affiliation:
Center for Demography and Ecology and Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
Melissa Partin
Affiliation:
Center for Demography and Ecology and Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
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Summary

The study compares biological, socioeconomic and behavioural determinants of low birthweight in Cameroon and the United States. Some factors in low birthweight are found to be cross-national, but others are specific to the setting. Positive risk factors of low birthweight in both countries include unmarried motherhood, female sex, multiple births, and preterm births. Outcome of the previous pregnancy is a positive risk factor in the US, but not in Cameroon. Significant negative risk factors include prenatal care visits (in both countries), mother's education (in the US only), births to mothers aged 20–34 and birth orders of 2 or more (in Cameroon only). Separate analyses of all births and the subsamples of singleton births reveal that estimates for the two groups differ only marginally.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , January 1993 , pp. 87 - 100
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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