The birthweights of 13,614 singleton
infants comprising 5,376 Malays, 5,352 Chinese and 2,886 Indians born at the Maternity Hospital, Kuala Lumpur, during 1973 to 1975 have been extracted and analysed. Male Chinese infants (3.16 + 0.37
kg) were slgnlficantly
heavier than Malay and
lndian infants while the male Malay infants (3.12 * 0.41 kg) were significantly heavier than the lndian (2.97 * 0.41kg). 60th female cninese (3.04 % 0.38 kg) and Malay infants (3.05 * 0.38 kg) were heavier than the female lndian (2.89 * 0.39 kg) but there was no difference in
birthweight between Chinese and Malay female infants. The mean gestational period and the proportion of full-term births were similar for all 3 races with averages of 39.9 weeks and 77.8
percent respectively. Maternal age at first birth was also closely similar for the three communities with an average of 22.9 years. Significant correlations were found between birthweight and length of neonates, birthweight and gravida, birthweight and maternal age. lndians have a higher incidenceof low birthweight or small for gestational age infants (14.5 percent) and the Malays (7.6 percent); the incidence of low birthwelghts being1 higher in girls than boys. Present-day Malay and lndian full-term and female infants are significantly heavier than their counterparts born at the same hospital two decades ago, but no difference in birthweight was observed for Chinese infants during this time interval. The gap between the incidence of low birthweight found in Malaysia and those in the developed countries seems to be narrowing and this may be taken to retlect the overall effects of socio-economic development, including the greater availability of general
health and ante-natal care throughout the country since its independence in 1957.
Med. J. Malaysia (1982) 37, 40-45
More abstracts about the RECENT BIRTHWEIGHT DISTRIBUTION AND TRENDS IN KUALA LUMPUR