They include:. In addition to weighing less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces, babies with low birth weight look much smaller than babies of normal birth weight. A low-birth-weight baby's head may look bigger than the rest of their body.
They often look thin with little body fat. One of the main reasons for regular prenatal exams is to make sure your baby is growing well. During pregnancy, the size of your baby is estimated in different ways. Your steady weight gain is one way of checking on the baby's growth. Another way is fundal height:. To check fundal height, your healthcare provider measures from the top of your pubic bone to the top of your uterus fundus. Fundal height is measured in centimeters cm.
It is about the same as the number of weeks of pregnancy after the 20th week. For example, at 24 weeks' gestation, your fundal height should be close to 24 cm. If the fundal height is less than expected, it may mean the baby is not growing well.
Your healthcare provider may also use fetal ultrasound to check your baby's growth and development. Ultrasound uses sound waves to create a picture of your baby.
It is a more accurate than checking fundal height. Measurements can be taken of your baby's head, belly abdomen , and upper leg bone femur.
These measurements are used to estimate their weight. Babies are weighed within the first few hours after birth. The weight is compared against the number of weeks of pregnancy gestational age. If your baby weighs less than 2, grams 5 pounds, 8 ounces , they have a low birth weight. Babies weighing less than 1, grams 3 pounds, 5 ounces at birth are considered very low birth weight. Babies who weigh less than 1, grams 2 pounds, 3 ounces are extremely low birth weight.
It will also depend on how severe the condition is. Special feedings. Article Navigation. Close mobile search navigation Article Navigation. Volume Article Contents Abstract. Pelotas Cohorts Study Group. Low birthweight and preterm birth: trends and inequalities in four population-based birth cohorts in Pelotas, Brazil, — Corresponding author.
E-mail: mariangelafreitassilveira gmail. Oxford Academic. Cesar G Victora. Bernardo L Horta. Bruna G C da Silva. Alicia Matijasevich.
Fernando C Barros. Members listed at end of article. Select Format Select format. Permissions Icon Permissions. Abstract Background. Infant , low birthweight , premature birth , cohort studies , birthweights , preterm births.
Birthweight g. Open in new tab. Percent low birthweight by birth cohort. Mean birthweight g by birth cohort. P linear trend. Table 5 Multivariable linear regression analyses showing differences in mean birthweight in the four cohorts with adjustment for changes over time in risk and protective factors a.
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Senior Clinician. View all jobs. Maternal skin colour a. Report of gestational diabetes a. Does a low birth weight cause problems for the baby? These include: Breathing problems, such as respiratory distress syndrome also called RDS. Treatment with surfactant helps these babies breathe more easily. Babies who have RDS also may need oxygen and other breathing help to make their lungs work.
Bleeding in the brain also called intraventricular hemorrhage or IVH. Most brain bleeds are mild and go away on their own. More severe bleeds can cause pressure on the brain that can cause fluid to build up in the brain. This can cause brain damage. Patent ductus arteriosus. Patent ductus arteriosus is when an opening between 2 major blood vessels leading from the heart does not close properly.
This can cause extra blood to flow to the lungs. In many babies who have patent ductus arteriosus, the opening closes on its own within a few days after birth. Some babies need medicine or surgery to close the opening. Necrotizing enterocolitis. The intestines are long tubes that are part of the digestive system. The digestive system helps the body break down food. Necrotizing enterocolitis can be dangerous for a baby and can cause feeding problems, swelling in the belly, and other complications.
Babies who have necrotizing enterocolitis are treated with antibiotics and fed through an intravenous, or IV, tube. Some babies need surgery to remove damaged parts of intestine. Retinopathy of prematurity. The immune system protects the body from infection. In a baby who is born too early, the immune system may not be fully developed and may not be able to fight off infection. Does a low weight at birth cause problems later in life?
If my baby has developmental delays, do they need early intervention services? Last reviewed: June, Prepare for a healthy pregnancy and baby this year. News Moms Need Blog Read about what moms and moms-to-be need to know. The title and abstract screening was followed by the analyses of full texts to check inclusion criteria.
Discordances were resolved by discussion among all authors. When reported information was unclear or numerical data were not obtainable, relevant corresponding authors were contacted for clarification. Studies reporting on PT or LBW were grouped into the same category because infants with low birth weight are mostly born preterm. When studies referred to preterm birth without mentioning gestational weeks, data were included in the MLPT subgroup. A standardized form was used to extract data from each study that included publication details, country, characteristics of participants year of birth, sample size, gestational age or birth weight, percentages of men, and age , type of study ie, cohort or registry , type of social outcome, and outcome data ie, means and standard deviations or numbers and frequencies 37 - 63 Table 1.
The extraction was conducted independently by 2 of us M. When inconsistencies emerged information was checked in the original study. Study quality was assessed independently by 2 of us M. Scores could range from 0 to 9. The mean range of ratings for study quality was 7. Publication bias analysis was assessed through 1 the trim and fill procedure to examine the symmetry of effect sizes plotted by the inverse of the standard error 39 ideally, effect sizes should mirror one another on either side of the mean ; 2 the Begg-Mazumdar rank correlation test to examine the likelihood of bias in favor of small sample size studies, 40 in which nonsignificance of correlation indicates no publication bias; and 3 Egger test to examine whether publication bias was related to the direction of study findings.
Because PT and LBW were combined into 1 group, it is essential to prove that the findings of the meta-analysis are not dependent on this decision. Therefore, a sensitivity analysis was undertaken in which we repeated the analysis excluding the studies that reported on LBW only.
Of articles screened, 21 studies were eligible for quantitative analysis Figure 1. According to our selection criteria, it was possible to identify 14 studies for romantic partnership, 9 for sexual intercourse, 11 for parenthood, 3 for quality of romantic relationship, and 5 for peer social support. We also identified 5 studies for number of friends, 32 - 34 , 42 , 43 but they were not included in the quantitative synthesis meta-analysis owing to the different ways the number of friends was assessed across studies.
Study characteristics are summarized in Table 1. The mean percentage of occurrence of each social transition across the studies is shown in eTable 2 in the Supplement. Meta-analysis results Table 3 and Figure 2 revealed that PT adults were less likely to have ever been involved in a romantic partnership than those born FT OR, 0.
Heterogeneity analysis indicated high variation in effects between studies. Comparisons of type of study Table 3 indicated that in both cohort and registry studies PT birth was associated with decreased likelihood of romantic partnership when compared with individuals born FT, but this effect was stronger in cohort studies.
Heterogeneity analysis indicated high variation in sexual activity effects between studies. Heterogeneity analysis indicated significant variation in parenthood effects between studies. When comparing the type of study, PT adults were less often reported to be parents in cohort studies, but not in registry studies.
No moderation effect was found for sex. Significant differences between PT and FT adults were found for the quality of romantic relationship Table 3 and Figure 2. Heterogeneity was not significant for this variable. Under the random-effects model, the point estimate for the combined studies was 0. With the use of trim and fill, these values remained unchanged for all relational outcomes, indicating no publication bias.
The Begg-Mazumdar rank correlation and Egger test were not statistically significant for all outcomes, indicating no evidence of publication bias. Results remained the same after excluding studies that reported only birth weight. Hence, PT adults were less likely to be in a partnership OR, 0.
Nevertheless, when they were in a romantic partnership or had friends, the quality of these relationships was similar to those experienced by FT adults. The associations were robust across degree of prematurity, age groups, and sex. These findings are consistent with the increasing recognition of the impact that early life influences have on outcomes in adulthood. The associations diverged depending on degree of prematurity, type of study, and age group. We verified that the difference of experiencing these transitions in comparison with FT individuals did not alter in the older age group and, in some cases, it was even greater in the older age group.
These findings may be cautiously interpreted, as only 2 studies 2 , 9 could be included in the older age group for this analysis. However, this difference was not significant in the younger age group. This finding is in line with the findings of Saigal et al. At a societal or population level, it suggests that prematurity is associated with a cross-generational fertility loss. Overall, rather than a delay, our findings suggest persistent difficulties in making these social transitions that have been associated with negative outcomes later in life, 49 , 50 such as lower wealth, social isolation, and poorer physical and mental health.
With respect to sex, it was only possible to include 4 to 5 studies in these subgroup analyses. No differences were found for parenthood; however, it is important to note that there were few participants with children in this subgroup analysis.
Previous studies have not been consistent when analyzing the role of sex on social outcomes. Longitudinal studies are required to explore these alternative explanations. There are also considerable variations of how peer support and quality of romantic relationships were measured across studies. For example, quality of romantic relationships included studies reporting on satisfaction with partner and intimacy, and social support included studies reporting on emotional closeness with friends to self-reported quality of social network.
We recommend individual studies use similar valid measures to make comparisons less problematic. Furthermore, the degree of prematurity is associated with physical and mental health and cognitive development, 11 - 13 , 45 and information on disability was not available for most studies. Although these constructs show high comorbidity and our sensitivity analyses revealed consistent results, it would be important to disentangle the effects of PT and LBW and their possible additive effects on social outcomes.
This would involve considering data on birth weights appropriate for gestational age or small for gestational age, which most studies included in the meta-analyses did not report. Future research should address these limitations by conducting individual participant meta-analysis and obtaining data directly from the study authors.
The heterogeneity of studies was high, indicating considerable variation. This might arise from incorporating cohort and registry studies with various sample sizes. To address this possibility, we used a random-effects model in the analysis and conducted moderator analyses. Nevertheless, our moderator analysis explained only some of the heterogeneity.
Thus, the findings from the current study should be interpreted with caution and analysis should be repeated when more adulthood data becomes available from the cohort studies. Also, only English publications were considered in this meta-analysis and, therefore, potential language bias should be taken into account. These associations are stronger the lower the gestational age and were found in young and middle adulthood. Hence, analyzing both objective indicators about the occurrence of social transitions and subjective measures about the quality of close relationships provided distinct and complementary information on the social lives of adults born PT.
Lack of sexual activity 56 and lack of romantic partner support 9 are associated with lower levels of happiness and poorer physical and mental health. Published: July 12, Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: All authors. Conflict of Interest Disclosures: None reported. Additional Contributions: Robert Eves, a PhD candidate in the Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, assisted with editing tables and figures without receiving financial compensation.
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