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low birth weight  

Definition

  • Newborns who weigh less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces, are classified as being of low-birth weight (LBW). (A related category, small for gestational age [SGA], is sex specific and includes children who are less than the 10th percentile for birth weight and gestational age.) LBW, a marker for fetal underdevelopment, has been linked to a variety of causes, for example, maternal tobacco and alcohol use, maternal age, poor maternal nutrition, lower socioeconomic status, and so forth. [Source: Encyclopedia of Obesity; Low Birth Weight]

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https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/low_birth_weight

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