Alberta leads Canada for babies born underweight

OTTAWA – More underweight infants – babies at risk of developmental delays and physical disability – are born in Alberta than in any other Canadian centre, according to a new study.

The Canadian Institute for Health Information reported Tuesday that the country’s wealthiest province had the highest rate of low birth-weight babies in Canada between 2008-09, at 6.7 per cent of all births.

The national average was six per cent, or about one in 16 infants.

Low birth-weight infants – those who weigh less than 5.5 pounds at birth – vary among the provinces, from 4.9 per cent in Prince Edward Island and 5.1 per cent in Manitoba, to 6.4 per cent in Ontario.

Experts say low birth-weight children are usually premature and may develop long-term health problems, likely because they didn’t finish developing in the womb.

Low birth weights may also cause lengthier hospital stays, adding to health-care costs, the institute said.

There’s been no real change in birth-weight statistics for three years, CIHI added.

Meanwhile, the study also found that approximately 374,000 babies were born in hospital in Canada, representing an increase of 4.8 per cent since 2006-07.

Among the provinces, the largest percentage increases in hospital births were reported by Saskatchewan (11.8 per cent) and Alberta (9.7 per cent), while a decrease of 1.4 per cent was reported by P.E.I.