Pediatric researchers have found that a gene previously shown to be involved in the development of type 2 diabetes also predisposes children to having a lower birth weight. The finding sheds light on a possible genetic influence on how prenatal events may set the stage for developing diabetes in later childhood or adulthood.

Many parents worry about their child's exposure to phthalates, the chemical compounds used as plasticizers in a wide variety of personal care products, children's toys, and medical devices. Phthalate exposure can begin in the womb and has been associated with negative changes in endocrine function.

Previous studies have shown that babies exposed to tobacco in utero are more likely to have a low birth weight and are at increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome. Now new research by The Miriam Hospital reveals that these babies are also less likely to self-soothe and are more aroused and excitable than newborns whose mothers did not smoke during pregnancy.

Consuming caffeine at any time during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of fetal growth restriction (low birth weight), according to research published on bmj.com today.

Increased rate of hemangiomas linked to rise in number of low birth weight infants in US

Low-birth-weight children appear to be at higher risk for psychiatric disturbances from childhood through high school than normal-birth-weight children, according to a report in the September issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Gestational age has long been the factor most commonly used to predict whether an extremely low-birth-weight infant survives and thrives, but four additional factors that can help predict a preemie’s outcome have been identified by the National Institutes of Health Neonatal Research Network, of which Yale is a member.

Teenage fathers are at increased risk of having babies born with birth problems ranging from pre-term delivery or low birth weight, through to death in or near to the time of delivery, according to new research published today (Thursday 7 February).

Researchers have found evidence of an increase in low birth weights among babies born in and around New York City in the weeks and months after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Writing in the journal Human Reproduction, they suggest that stress may have contributed to the effect.

Exposure to perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) in the womb is statistically associated with lower weight and head circumference at birth, according to an analysis of nearly 300 umbilical cord blood samples led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The cause of low birth weights among African-American women has more to do with racism than with race, according to a report by an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Each year an estimated 20 million children are born with low birth weight worldwide, more than 95% of them in developing countries. Low birth weight, defined as less than 2,500 grams (5.5 pounds), is associated with increased risk of negative health outcomes, including neonatal and infant mortality, poor growth and cognitive development, and morbidity due to chronic diseases later in life, such as diabetes and heart disease.