Change Indicator

Percentage of low body mass index mothers at birth in Washington

Percentage of low body mass index mothers at birth

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Note: Non-consecutive years appear adjacent in the trend line
because one or more years have been deselected.

Definition and Source

PROVIDER

Definition

Percent of live births to mothers with a low Body Mass Index (BMI). Mothers’ low BMI presented here are calculated by dividing the number of live birth babies whose mothers had low BMI at the time of birth in three consecutive calendar years by the total number of live births reported in the same period.

Data Source

The data used for this measure come from Center for Health Statistics, Washington State Department of Health (DOH), Birth Data. Data were retrieved on February 12, 2021 at doh.wa.gov.

S: Data estimate has been suppressed. Percents are not shown when the average number of live birth babies whose mothers had low BMI over the three consecutive years is fewer than 10.

Notes

Data last updated in February 2021 by Washington KIDS COUNT.

BMI is calculated using the weight and the height of an individual in the following formula: BMI = (703.1 x weight in lbs)/square of height in inches. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) classifies BMI into four categories. When the values are less than 18.5, BMI is considered low. Low BMI is also referred to as being underweight.

We combined three years of data to minimize unreliability of measurement due to small numbers. The values reported here refer to rolling averages across three years.

Last Updated

February 2021