Low Birth Weight Factsheet
Back to Have a Healthy Baby Program
- Low birth-weight (LBW) is the number one contributor infant mortality in Indiana. Preterm birth is the number one contributor to the LBW rate 1
- 7.6% of Indiana babies are born at low birth-weight (2002) 2
- 10% of infants born to mothers age 10 to 17 were born LBW.
- 12.9% of African-American infants were born at LBW 2
- 28% of LBW births are associated with maternal smoking. In Indiana 19.1% of the mothers smoked during their pregnancies 2
- Low birth-weight babies are 64 percent more likely to attend special education classes than normal birth-weight babies 3
- LBW accounts for 10 percent of all health care costs for children (Lewitt et al., 1995).
- Lifetime medical costs of caring for a premature baby is conservatively projected to be $500,000 per case 3
- More than 60 percent of private-sector preterm births and low birth-weight cases are preventable
1 Indiana Infant Mortality Report: 2002 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set, 2004.
2 Indiana Natality Report 2002, Indiana State Department of Health, 2004.
3 March of Dimes Dirth Defects Foundation, Statbook: Statistics for monitoring maternal and infant health 2001.
