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In 2006, Preston (11.2%) recorded the highest rate in the whole of England and Wales for low birthweight live births. In contrast, Ribble Valley recorded the lowest rate (2.9%) of all 374 local authorities in England and Wales.
The past six years reveal that Burnley and Blackburn with Darwen are also areas in Lancashire that consistently record high rates.
The following article is based on datasets released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) via their (External) Neighbourhood Statistics website . These datasets contain counts of low birthweight live births occurring in each of the calendar years 1999 to 2006 in England and Wales to mothers usually resident in England and Wales. Information is provided for regions and local authorities/districts. Allocation to geographical area is based on mother's place of usual residence and not on the place where the births occurred although in the case of home births these may be the same. The information is useful for identifying geographic variations in health.
Low birthweight live births are defined as those that weigh less than 2,500 grams at birth. This is the definition of used by the (External) World Health Organisation . Below this value birthweight specific infant mortality begins to rise rapidly. Birthweight is determined by two major processes: duration of gestation and intrauterine growth rate (IUGR). Low birthweight is caused by either a short gestation period or retarded intrauterine growth or a combination of both. The relationship between these processes and the outcome of low birthweight are complex: not all preterm births result in low birthweight babies, nor does IUGR directly correlate to birth weight.
It is clear however, that low birthweight live births do have a higher risk of death in the first year of life than babies of normal birthweight (i.e. 2,500g+). Furthermore, this is not the only consequence of low birthweight. It can also cast long shadows into adult health status with associations having been shown between low birthweight and adverse health in later childhood and adulthood, including deficits in growth, cognitive development, diabetes and heart disease.
In the current UK policy context, there is an emphasis on combating health inequalities at an inter-generational level and, as part of this process giving every child a healthy start in life is accorded a high priority. As low birthweight is a leading cause of infant mortality , preventing or ameliorating it is an important policy objective.
In simple numerical terms just over 1,495 low birthweight live births were recorded in the broader Lancashire area in 2006 (Table 1). This represented 22.8% of the North West Region total and 3.0% of those in England and Wales. By district, the number of low birthweight live births was greatest in Blackburn with Darwen (232) followed by Preston (212), whilst the lowest by far was in the predominantly rural district of Ribble Valley (14).
The data cover six years, a relatively short period to identify real trends but between 2001 and 2006 there was a noticeable increase of over 5,000 (11.2%) in the number of low birthweight babies in England and Wales, whilst in the broader Lancashire area the number rose by 9.8%. There were quite large variations between local districts. Four Lancashire authorities recorded decreases over the six-year period, whilst another four recorded increases of over 23%.
The research monitor archive section contains the earlier edition of this article that has figures for both 1999 and 2000.
The published data, as outlined in Table 1 above, give the number of live births of low birthweight in an area but these on their own do not facilitate useful comparisons between areas due to differences in the size of resident populations and in the total numbers of live births occurring in one area as compared with another. For such a comparison to take place, the number of low birthweight live births has been expressed as a percentage of all live births in each area.
In 2006, babies born weighing less than 2,500g accounted for 7.6% of all live births in England and Wales, a rate that has been fairly stable over recent years. Unfortunately, the data do not contain any Lancashire rates, but at the local authority level a rather mixed and in some instances a quite disturbing results are evident. This can best be illustrated by ranking each district in terms of its low birthweight rate out of the 374 local district areas throughout England and Wales. On this basis, in 2006, Preston recorded the highest rate (11.2%) in England and Wales, whilst Blackburn with Darwen (10.0%) was in eighth place and Burnley (9.8%) was in eleventh worst position. In total, 10 of the 14 Lancashire local authorities recorded rates below the national average.
The very low number recorded in Ribble Valley led to a rate of just 2.9% and a ranking of 374th position. This meant that in 2006, Lancashire contained the districts with the highest and lowest rankings in the whole of England and Wales.
The rankings in 2001 and all the yearly totals in Table 2 reveal some noticeable shifts, but in general terms, authorities such as Burnley, Preston and Blackburn with Darwen have experienced consistently high rates.
Map showing the number of underweight births and the underweight births as a percentage of all live births for Lancashire's local authorities - see text for details Source ONS - Low Birthweight Live Births
The prevalence of low birthweight is known to vary by a wide range of factors including mother's age and general well-being, multiplicity, ethnicity and/or country of birth, smoking, nutrition, socio-economic position and a range of deprivation issues in general. Consequently, all these factors may contribute to the geographical variations noted above. It is beyond the scope of this article to offer detailed explanations or to seek to establish the relative importance of different factors. Suffice to say that analysis across a wide range of key social and economic indicators such as those relating to wages and incomes, housing conditions and measures of deprivation reveal the significant problems that continue to face many areas within Lancashire. It is therefore not wholly surprising that such difficulties are also reflected in relatively high rates of low birthweight babies in several districts.
This page was compiled by Bryan Moulding .
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Any other questions about the content of this page may be sent to EconInfo@lancashire.gov.uk .
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