The public health significance of low birth weight in the USA, with special reference to varying practices in providing special care to infants of low birth weight.

In this discussion of the significance of low birth weight in the USA, the author presents data relating birth weight, ethnic grouping and duration of gestation to infant mortality rates, and concludes that measures designed to lower the infant mortality in one country or area cannot always be applied without change in another area. She challenges the notion that a birth weight of 2500 g or less necessarily implies a premature birth; it would hardly be valid, for instance, in areas where the median birth weights are below 3000 g. Moreover, the state of physiological development and efficiency of the infant is more important in determining its survival than its weight at birth.In her conclusions, she also lists a number of factors that should be taken into consideration for assessing the significance of low birth weight and for deciding on practical programmes to reduce the mortality associated with it.