| Health Status > Infants
VERY LOW BIRTH WEIGHT
In 2003, 1.4 percent of live births were infants
of very low birth weight (less than 1,500 grams, or 3 pounds 4 ounces).
This has slowly climbed from a rate of just over one percent in
1980.
Because the chance of survival increases as birth
weight increases, very low birth weight infants have the lowest
survival rates. Infants born at such low birth weights are approximately
100 times more likely to die in the first year of life than are
infants of normal birth weight. Very low birth weight infants who
survive are at a significantly increased risk of severe problems,
including physical and visual difficulties, developmental delays,
and cognitive impairment requiring increased levels of medical,
educational, and parental care.
The overall rate of very low birth weight among
non-Hispanic Black newborns (3.1 percent) is over two and a half
times greater than the rate among most other racial and ethnic groups,
including non-Hispanic Whites (1.2 percent), Hispanics (1.2 percent),
and Asian/Pacific Islanders (1.1 percent). This difference is a
major contributor to the disparity in infant mortality rates between
non-Hispanic Black infants and infants of other racial and ethnic
groups.
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Line Chart: Very Low Birth Weight Among Infants,
by Race/Ethnicity: 1985-2003
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