Low Birth Weight: % of Low Birth Weight (<2500 g) Infants
Current Value
7.7%
Definition
Line
Bar
Story Behind the Curve
- Prior to ACA, access to care - enrollments are lapsing, coverage is being reduced so they aren't accessing care in a timely fashion or at all
- Limits for undocumented immigrants to access care
- Smoking, substance use/abuse by mom
- maternal pre-existing conditions - general overall health of pregnant moms is not ideal
- access to good nutrition, families living in food deserts
- would have to pay out of pocket for pre-natal care if there is no health insurance or appropriate coverage
- non-compliance or apathy in home
- lack of trust with providers
- lack of providers that accept MA
- unintentional pregnancies vs. planned pregnancy
- short pregnancy intervals between children
- environmental stressors: lack of housing, transient, etc.
- lack of transportation to access prenatal care
- lack of knowledge about resources
- lack of education about good pregnancy/prenatal care
- parents with high ACE scores
- domestic violence
- poverty
Partners
- outpatient OB providers
- hospitals
- primary care physician
- early head start
- storks nest
- Health Dept
- DSS
- Partnership
- Centering Program
- ITP (school system)
- methadone and other treatment programs
- Judy Center
- MCO's/commercial payers
- Planned Parenthood
- Pregnancy Center
- Birthing Centers
- Doula's
- March of Dimes
- Dept. of Transportation
What Works
- Centering Program - group prenatal care through whole pregnancy (cohort of support) education & care
- WIC
- Healthy Start
- Childbirth Classes
- Stork's Nest
- Community-based parenting/birthing classes
- OB quality incentive program (Amerigroup)
- Incentive Programs for moms
- Long-acting reverisable contraception
- Pregnancy planning
Strategy
- Healthy Start - particularly focusing on racial disparities
- Stork's Nest
- Incentive programs for moms - perhaps build one here?
Data Discussion
Unless otherwise specified, any missing data is either because there are no individuals who identify with the race/ethnicity or the data is suppressed to protect privacy. The race/ethnicity groups included in the indicator are as written in the original data source. 2000-2009 has the following note: Race and Hispanic origin are reported separately on the birth certificate. Data for persons of Hispanic origin are included in the data for each race group according to the mother’s reported race.
Data Source
https://health.maryland.gov/vsa/Pages/reports.aspx