Low Birth Weight

Low birth weight study

Project question:

1. What are the risk factors associated with low birth weight?

2. Are all variables significant?

3. If not, what are the significant variables and what are the interactions between them?

Abstract:

The average normal weight of infant is approximately 3,200 grams. In contrast, a baby has “low birth weight” if she weight less than 2,500 grams, and the baby is categorized as “very low birth weight” if the weight is less than 1,500 grams. The primary cause of LBW babies is preterm labor or premature rupture of membranes. However, a woman’s behavior during pregnancy, such as diets, smoking habits, and receiving prenatal care, can greatly alter the chances of carrying the baby to term, and consequently, of delivering a baby of normal birth weight.

The goal of the project is to identify risk factors associated with giving birth to a low birth weight baby.

Data Analysis

1. A first look at the data

The dataset of the project is extracted from Appendix 1 of Hosmer and Lemeshow (1989) which can be retrieved from http://www.stata-press.com/data/r9/rmain.html. This dataset contains data from 189 mothers on a number of variables, including birthweight of newborn, mother’s age, race, smoking during pregnancy(0=No, 1=Yes), premature birth history(0=none, 1=Yes), hypertension, uterine irritability(0=1, 1=Yes), number of physicians visits during the first trimester BWT, and weight of mother at the last menstrual period.

Variable | Description | Coding |

Low | Low birth weight | 1=≤2500gms0=>2500gms |

Bwt | Birth weight | grams |

Smoke | Smoking during pregnancy | 1=yes0=no |

Race | Mother’s race | 1=white2=black 3=other |

Age | Mother’s age | Years |

FTV | Number of physicians visits | times |

LWT | Weight of mother at the last menstrual period | pounds |

PTL | History of Premature labor | 1=yes0=no |

UI | Presence of uterine irritability | 1=yes0=no |

HT | History of...