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Show Low Birth Weight Low birth weight places infants at risk for infant death, illness, and disability. Caring for low birth weight babies can be very costly. Utah's percentage of low birth weight babies has consistently remained lower than the percentage for the U.S. During the reporting period, Utah's highest percentage of low birth weight babies was 6.5% in Table 91. Low Birth Weight 1970; its lowest was in 1977 at 5.2%. It then peaked in 1991, descended and in recent years has risen again. U.S. percentages follow a similar trend. The highest percentage of low birth weight babies for the U.S was in 1970, its lowest percentage was in 1984, and the percentage has risen slightly since then. Utah U.S. Year Total White Black Total White Black 1970 6.5 6.5 12.9 7.9 6.8 13.9 1971 6.2 6.1 9.4 7.7 6.6 13.4 1972 6.0 6.0 11.9 7.7 6.5 13.6 1973 5.5 5.5 14.7 7.6 6.4 13.3 1974 5.3 5.2 17.9 7.4 6.3 13.1 1975 5.3 5.3 13.8 7.4 6.3 13.1 1976 5.4 5.3 14.0 7.3 9.1 13.0 1977 5.2 5.2 13.3 7.1 5.9 12.8 1978 5.6 5.6 7.3 7.1 5.9 12.9 1979 5.6 5.5 11.2 6.9 5.8 12.6 1980 5.3 5.2 9.6 6.8 5.7 12.5 1981 5.4 5.4 8.7 6.8 5.7 11.4 1982 5.6 5.5 11.4 6.8 5.6 11.2 1983 5.6 5.5 10.3 6.8 5.7 12.6 1984 5.6 5.4 10.1 6.7 5.6 12.4 1985 5.7 5.6 10.4 6.8 5.6 12.4 1986 5.4 5.3 9.3 6.8 5.6 12.5 1987 5.7 5.6 10.6 6.9 5.7 12.7 1988 5.7 5.6 11.8 6.9 5.6 13.0 1989 5.7 5.6 10.8 7.0 5.7 13.5 1990 5.7 5.7 12.8 7.0 5.7 13.3 1991 6.0 6.0 14.0 7.1 5.8 13.5 1992 5.6 5.1 5.9 7.0 5.8 13.3 1993 5.9 5.5 6.7 7.2 6.0 13.3 1994 5.9 5.9 10.1 7.3 6.2 13.2 1995 6.3 6.2 10.6 7.3 6.2 13.0 Figure 54 Percentage of birth weights less than 2500 grams. CO JO CD '5 £ ffi CD O o in CM c CO Total Percentage of Low Birth Weight 1.. 6.: 5-. 4--3--2--1-. 0--1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 H-I-I-I-I-I-I Utah ........U.S. H-I-I-I-I-h -f-H-I-I-V Utah's Health: An Annual Review 1996 93 |
