Birth weight and some other factors in relation to infant survival. A study on an Indian sample

SUMMARY Effect of parity, maternal age, birth weight and sex of the child on infant survival have been studied in 3822 eases belonging to the upper socio‐economic group and the relationship of birth weight to survival in 2279 cases of a lower socio‐economic group have also been studied. It has been suggested that for the upper socio‐economic group a child with a birth weight of less than 5| lb., if it is a male, and 5 J lb., if it is a female, may be considered as premature whereas for the lower socio‐economic group the corresponding birth weight is 4J lb. for both males and females. In the latter group, the critical weight of 4½ lb. would have to be revised, if perinatal mortality rate improves. I am indebted to the management of the Chamanlal Mehta Hospital for women for allowing me to collect the data from their hospital. I am grateful to Prof. M. C. Chakrabarti, University Department of Statistics for giving me all the facilities for the statistical analysis. I would like to record my gratitude to Miss Mary N. Karn, Galton Laboratory, London and to Dr A. M. Kshirsagar, University of Bombay for taking interest in this paper. Grateful acknowledgement is due to Dr T. H. Rindani, the Dean, T.N. Medical College for permission to make use of outside resources for collection and analysis of the data and to Dr V. N. Panse, Professor, Department of Preventive and Social Medicine for his encouragement and advice.