Abstract
We analyzed 15,000 consecutive births in an inner-city hospital. 51% of the mothers came from the nearby ultra-orthodox Jewish community of Mea-Shearin, unique in the stable socioeconomic status of its families, ensured by a family-size-linked social-support system. Two high risk groups, teenage primiparae (age ≤ 19 y) and grandmultiparae (parity ≥ 7), were studied. The incidence of low birth weight infants 2500 g) was significantly lower (p< 0.001) for the teenage mothers from Mea-Shearim compared with teenage mothers from other areas of Jerusalem (12/190, 6.3% vs. 13/231, 14.7%). Similarly, low birth weight infants were significantly less common (p<0.0002) among grandmultiparae from Mea-Shearim compared with grandmultiparae from other areas of Jerusalem (56/1258, 4.5% vs. 55/616, 8.9%). The differences could not be explained by maternal age distribution, ethnicity, smoking and marital status. These results suggest that teenage and grandmultiparity, in a community with extensive social and economic support are not major biological risk factors.
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Seidman, D., Dollberg, S., Friedman, M. et al. EXTREMES OF MATERNAL AGE AND PARITY - A BIOLOGICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL NEONATAL RISK FACTOR?. Pediatr Res 26, 525 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198911000-00154
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198911000-00154