Birthweight

Identifying and definitional attributes
Metadata item type:	Glossary Item
METeOR identifier:	327212
Registration status:	Health, Standard 01/03/2005
Definition:	The first weight of the fetus or baby obtained after birth. The World Health Organization further defines the following categories: extremely low birthweight: less than 1,000 grams (up to and including 999 grams), very low birthweight: less than 1,500 grams (up to and including 1,499 grams), low birthweight: less than 2,500 grams (up to and including 2,499 grams).
Context:	Perinatal
Collection and usage attributes
Comments:	The definitions of low, very low, and extremely low birthweight do not constitute mutually exclusive categories. Below the set limits they are all-inclusive and therefore overlap (i.e. low includes very low and extremely low, while very low includes extremely low). For live births, birthweight should preferably be measured within the first hour of life before significant postnatal weight loss has occurred. While statistical tabulations include 500 gram groupings for birthweight, weights should not be recorded in those groupings. The actual weight should be recorded to the degree of accuracy to which it is measured.
Source and reference attributes
Submitting organisation:	National Perinatal Data Development Committee
Origin:	International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision, WHO, 1992
Relational attributes
Related metadata references:	Supersedes Birthweight, version 1, DEC, NHDD, NHIMG, Superseded 01/03/2005 .pdf (14.0 KB)
Metadata items which use this glossary item:	Birth Health, Standard 01/03/2005 Birth event—birth plurality, code N Health, Standard 01/03/2005 Birth order Health, Standard 01/03/2005 Birth status code N Health, Standard 01/03/2005 Birth weight recorded indicator Health, Standard 07/12/2011 Birth—birth weight, total grams NNNN Health, Standard 01/03/2005 Female—number of previous pregnancies (spontaneous abortion), total NN Health, Standard 01/03/2005 Female—number of previous pregnancies (stillbirth), total N[N] Health, Standard 01/03/2005 Perinatal NMDS 2013-14 Health, Standard 07/02/2013 Perinatal NMDS 2014-15 Health, Candidate 14/05/2013 Pregnancy (last previous)—pregnancy completion date, DDMMYYYY Health, Standard 01/03/2005