The ethnicity of the father can influence the birth weight of the child -
also affected by birth weight where the parents live
ethnicity a father can influence the birth weight of a child, a new study has found.
previous research by Dr. Joel Ray of St. Michael's Hospital showed that the ethnicity of the mother can influence birthweights and new research from his team shows the same is true for a father.
Dr. Ray, a physician and researcher at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of the Hospital, studied birthweights between different ethnic groups because babies who are considered small or large, just before birth can trigger medical interventions such as cesarean delivery. Birth weight is also one of the key criteria used to measure the progress of a baby in its first days and weeks after birth
The weight curves to the current birth -. Graphics used to trace how a baby's weight compares to others of the same age assume that parents are Western European origin. This means that many babies of Asian or South Asian mother may be classified as underweight, while in fact they are "normal" for their ethnic groups. The new study shows the same is true when the father is Asian.
Knowing how ethnic backgrounds birthweights impacts is especially important in Canada, given the growing number of Métis families. Researchers led by Dr. Joel Ray, have developed the first "weight curves newborn" for specific ethnic groups across Canada, but using the ethnicity of the mother alone.
Dr. Ray new paper, published Monday in the Journal of epidemiology and Community health , shows that babies born to mothers born abroad and a father born in the foreign weigh about six percent less than those with both parents born in Canada.
babies a mother born in Canada and father born abroad weigh slightly less than the two Canadian-born parents. babies of a father born in Canada and a mother born abroad weigh somewhere between the two.
Dr. Ray also examined whether birthweights were affected by where parents lived. When immigrant parents living in neighborhoods with a high concentration of people of their ethnic background, their babies weigh less than those of Canadian-born parents. This is especially true for male babies, he said.
Dr. Ray The study was based on a review of 692.301 births registered with the Ontario Vital between 02 and 09.
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