Births, gestation and birthweights in South Tees 1990-1996

Background The UK government has specified that ail health authorities are to develop local health improvement programmes, Birthweight and gestational age are important health determinants, and therefore indicators of the hea lth status of children in a community, They also have important resource im plications for health and social services. Data regarding birthweight and i ts relationship to gestational age are not routinely available. This paper describes the results of the measurement of the birthweights and gestationa l ages of children born to residents in a UK health district, and their rel ationship with deprivation. Methods Routinely collected birthweight and gestational age data for childr en born to parents resident in the South Tees district during the period 19 90-1996 inclusive were downloaded from the community child health departmen t mainframe computer, The data were analysed and compared with national sta ndards. Results The analysis showed that, despite the high levels of deprivation, b irthweights were close to or slightly above average for most gestational ag es. However, when compared with the average district in England and Wales, 8 per cent more low-birthweight children, of which 42 per cent were less th an 28 weeks gestation, were born in the area, Materially deprived mothers w ere more likely to give birth to pre-term and light for gestational age inf ants. Conclusions This study has shown that it is now possible to use routine sou rces of information to monitor local trends in birthweight and gestation, a nd their relationship with deprivation.