What is the optimal birth weight for infants of adolescent mothers?
A study of US births for a 5 year period (16.5 million births) showed the highest neonatal survival rates in a range of 3000 to 4500 g (6.6 to 9.9 lbs) for Whites, and 3000 to 4000 g (6.6 to 8.8 lbs) for Blacks, regardless of age of the mother (see 1996 Pediatrics article, Rees, Lederman and Kiely; click HERE for link to article abstract). A recent study confirms the optimal birth weight, for Native Americans is the same for infants of adolescents as for adults. The lower limit of the optimal birth weight range, that is the range of maximum viability, is the same as for Whites and Blacks. There is some variation at the upper end of the optimal range for the three groups. For the study of Native American optimal birth weight see the poster of Crystal Tetrick’s MPH thesis research, presented at the 2001 Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association. A related study shows evidence of growth/reproductive trade-off in African-American adolescent gravidas, and the effect on birth
