Poor mothers have smaller babies, says study

Oct 02, 2007 09:56 AM

The study in Ottawa says that mothers from the poorer neighbourhoods in Toronto are more likely to have smaller babies or give birth prematurely.

The study of births in Toronto in the year 1996 to 2001 stated that mothers from the lowest-income neighbourhoods in the city were 25% more likely to have a preterm birth than mothers in the richest neighbourhoods and also 53% more likely to have an under-weight baby at full-term.

Immigrant women in the same neighbourhoods, however, were less likely to give birth prematurely, although their babies were smaller. Those smaller babies may be related more to ancestry than income, however.

The highest rates of immigration to Toronto in recent years were from China, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka.

"Women born in southern and eastern Asia tend to be shorter and lighter and to have lower caloric intake than Canadian-born women – factors that contribute to smaller babies, and consequently, to lower birthweight," the study said.

Compared with mothers in the richest neighbourhoods, non-immigrant mothers from poor neighbourhoods were more likely to be under 20, to have had at least one illness during pregnancy and to give birth by caesarean section.

"Longer-term residents in low-income neighbourhoods were clearly the subgroup experiencing the highest risk of adverse birth outcomes, probably because of the influence of lasting socio-economic disadvantage."

The study contained a number of caveats. For example, while it looked at mothers from poor neighbourhoods, there was no way to pin down details such as individual income.

In my opinion, I don’t think that this is true. I think that it doesn’t matter how you look or how small you will be affected by how poor your parents are. For example, Many of the “most tallest person in the world” ‘s parents are not very rich. I think that it is one of your DNA gene and how tall your parents are determines your height. I heard from the internet that your height is determined by how tall your parents are. (DNA gene)

Article from http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/262647