Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-t5pn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T02:18:27.468Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Birth Weight In Israel, 1968–70 I. Effects of Birth Order and Maternal Origin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

S. Grossman ,
Y. Handlesman  and
A. Michael Davies
S. Grossman
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Ecology, Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel
Y. Handlesman
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Ecology, Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel
A. Michael Davies
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Ecology, Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

An analysis of 96% of Israeli live births, 1968–70, gives a mean birth weight of 3299 ± 543 g with 5·7% weighing less than 2500 g. The mean values increased from 3193 ± 510 g for first born to 3469 ± 604 g for tenth and subsequent births.

There were significant differences between the mean birth weights, adjusted for birth order, of the different ethnic-origin groups. Infants of Jewish immigrants from North African countries weighed 3356 g followed by Christian Arabs (3337 g), Israeli-born Jews (3310 g), immigrants from Western countries (3303 g), Moslem Arabs (3251 g), Druze (3244 g) and immigrants from countries of Asia (3223 g).

For the Jewish groups, the differences were diminished in the second generation of Israeli-born but those descended from Asian immigrants continued to be the lighter group.

In order to determine the extent to which these differences are truly ‘ethnic’ further analyses of more homogeneous groups will be necessary taking into account a number of other demographic and socio-economic variables. (Summary in Hebrew, p. 58.)

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , January 1974 , pp. 43 - 58
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1974

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arslanian, J. & Rebeiz, G. (1951) Courbe ponderale du nourisson au liban. J. liban Med. 4, 288.Google Scholar
Bailey, N.T.J. (1959) Statistical Methods in Biology. English Universities Press, London.Google Scholar
Central Bureau Of Statistics (1971) Weight of Jewish infants, 1968, 1969. Monthly Bull. Statistics, Israel, No. 5, 68.Google Scholar
Central Bureau Of Statistics (1972) Statistical Abstract of Israel, 23. Government Printer, Jerusalem.Google Scholar
Davies, A.M. (1971) Migrants and their children in Israel. Israel J. med. Sci. 7, 1342.Google ScholarPubMed
Davies, A.M. (1972) Preventive medicine in Israel. Prev. Med. 1, 121.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gonnelle, H. & Demarchi, H. (1953) Nutritional status of infants and very young children in Baghdad, Iraq. J. Fac. Med., Baghdad. 17, 42.Google Scholar
Halevi, H.S. (1959) Some statistical aspects of prematurity in Israel. Harefuah (Tel Aviv), 56, 201 (in Hebrew).Google ScholarPubMed
Halevi, H.S., Bromberg, Y.M. & Brzezinsky, A. (1951) Studies in anthropometry of Jewish infants in Palestine. 1. Weight of the newborn. Am. J. phys. Anthropol. 9 (Ns), 297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jager, S. (1961) Statistical information from a welfare clinic in Baghdad, Iraq. J. trop. Med. Hyg. 64, 212.Google ScholarPubMed
Legq, S., Davies, A.M., Prywes, R., Stark, V.V. & Weiskopf, P. (1970) Patterns of low birth weight in West Jerusalem with special reference to maternal origin. Br. J. prey. soc. Med. 24, 89.Google Scholar
Meremm, H.V. (1970) Body weight at birth of viable human infants: a worldwide comparative treatise. Hum. Biol. 42, 217.Google Scholar
Feller, S. (1929) Das Pranatale Wachstum und die Neugeborenensterblichkeit bei Judan und Nichtjuden in ihrer Bedingtheit von Anlage und Umwelt. Arch. f. Sociale Hygiene v. Demographie, 4b, 298.Google Scholar
Rush, D. & Susser, M. (1973) Antecedents of low birthweight. In: Uses of Epidemiology in Planning Health Services. Proc. 6th mt Sci. Meeting, Int Epidem. Ass. 1971. Edited by Davies, A.M.. Savremena Administracija, Belgrade.Google Scholar