ArticleArchives of disease in childhood. Fetal and neonatal edition2018
Birth weight trends in England and Wales (1986-2012): babies are getting heavier.
Article in Archives of disease in childhood. Fetal and neonatal edition, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 68 citations in OpenAlex.
- Maternal smoking status during pregnancy and low birth weight in offspring: systematic review and meta-analysis of 55 cohort studies published from 1986 to 2020.World journal of pediatrics : WJP · 2022Pooled it
- Fetal Growth and Adiposity of Infants Born Large for Gestational Age in Three Harmonized Randomized Trials.American journal of perinatology · 2024Trial
- Economic Impact of Severe Early-Onset Foetal Growth Restriction: A Multicentre Prospective Cohort Study.BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology · 2026Article
- [Analysis of the relationship between neonatal birth weight and meconium metabolites based on birth cohort metabolomics].Se pu = Chinese journal of chromatography · 2024Article
- Fifteen-year temporal changes in rates of acute kidney injury among children in Denmark.Pediatric nephrology (Berlin, Germany) · 2024Article
- Birthweight trends and their explanatory factors in Hungary between 1999 and 2018: an analysis of the Hungarian Tauffer registry.Reproductive health · 2024Article
- Health of singleton neonates in Switzerland through time and crises: a cross-sectional study at the population level, 2007-2022.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2024Article
- Sustained decline in birth weight and increased rate of preterm infants born small for gestational age in Japan.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2024Article
- Labor patterns of spontaneous first-stage labor in Chinese women with normal neonatal outcomes.PloS one · 2024Observational
- Reference Values for Birth Weight in Relation to Gestational Age in Poland and Comparison with the Global Percentile Standards.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Physical activity and sedentary time across pregnancy and associations with neonatal weight, adiposity and cord blood parameters: a secondary analysis of the DALI study.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2023Article
- Association between excessive fetal growth and maternal cancer in Shanghai, China: a large, population-based cohort study.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Article
- Birth weight and large for gestational age trends in offspring of pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus in southern China, 2012-2021.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2023Article
- Recurrence of postpartum hemorrhage, maternal and paternal contribution, and the effect of offspring birthweight and sex: a population-based cohort study.Archives of gynecology and obstetrics · 2022Article
- Regenerative medicine: prenatal approaches.The Lancet. Child & adolescent health · 2022Review
- Associations between insomnia and pregnancy and perinatal outcomes: Evidence from mendelian randomization and multivariable regression analyses.PLoS medicine · 2022Observational
- Vacuum-Assisted Delivery Complication Rates Based on Ultrasound-Estimated Fetal Weight.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- Increased Chance of Live Birth Following Use of Connected Ovulation Test System: Outcome Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial.Women's health reports (New Rochelle, N.Y.) · 2022Article
- Risk factors and recurrence of cause-specific postpartum hemorrhage: A population-based study.PloS one · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
introductionBirth weight is a strong predictor of infant mortality, morbidity and later disease risk. Previous work from the 1980s indicated a shift in the UK towards heavier births; this descriptive analysis looks at more recent trends.
methodsOffice for National Statistics (ONS) registration data on 17.2 million live, single births from 1986 to 2012 were investigated for temporal trends in mean birth weight, potential years of birth weight change and changes in the proportions of very low (<1500 g), low (<2500 g) and high (≥4000 g) birth weight. Analysis used multiple linear and logistic regression adjusted for maternal age, marital status, area-level deprivation and ethnicity. Additional analyses used the ONS NHS Numbers for Babies data set for 2006-2012, which has information on individual ethnicity and gestational age.
resultsOver 27 years there was an increase in birth weight of 43 g (95% CI 42 to 44) in females and 44 g (95% CI 43 to 45) in males, driven by birth weight increases between 1986-1990 and 2007-2012. There was a concurrent decreased risk of having low birth weight but an 8% increased risk in males and 10% increased risk in females of having high birth weight. For 2006-2012 the birth weight increase was greater in preterm as compared with term births.
conclusionsSince 1986 the birth weight distribution of live, single births in England and Wales has shifted towards heavier births, partly explained by increases in maternal age and non-white ethnicity, as well as changes in deprivation levels. Other potential influences include increases in maternal obesity and reductions in smoking prevalence particularly following the introduction of legislation restricting smoking in public places in 2007.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.