Their infants were two to four times as likely to be low birth weight. Low birth weight was also associated with complications during labor and delivery and abnormal conditions in the newborn such as respiratory distress syndrome, a leading cause of infant deaths. Mason has been visiting communities to work with them as they develop new efforts to combat infant mortality. Teenage mothers are more likely to have such conditions as anemia and hypertension during their pregnancies, less likely to receive prenatal care and less likely to gain the recommended weight during their pregnancies. The rate of cigarette smoking was also relatively low, at 8 percent, among Hispanic mothers.
Education affects tobacco use.
Eighteen percent of women whose pregnancies lasted 40 weeks or longer gained less than 21 pounds, according to Stephanie Ventura, a senior natality analyst at NCHS who wrote the report. Black mothers were almost 60 percent more likely than white mothers to gain less than 21 pounds and were 86 percent more likely to gain less than 16 pounds. Even after controlling for age, marital status or educational attainment, which also affect weight gain, large racial differences still persist, she reported. The new certificate has expanded reporting of risk factors, and also of obstetric procedures performed, methods of delivery, abnormal conditions and congenital anomalies of the infant. Ultrasound had been performed for almost half of the births in 1989.