Are Hong Kong babies getting bigger?

Objective: To establish recent birth weight trends in Hong Kong. Method: A total of 10512 confinements for the years 1985-86, and 7857 for the years 1995-96 were analyzed. Result: There was a significant increase in maternal height, weight at booking, and maternal age, whereas the body-mass index was reduced slightly (P < 0.0001). Parity increased significantly, with the percentage of parous women rising from 44.1% to 55.6% (P < 0.0001). The percentage of female infants decreased from 49.5% to 47.9%. Despite these changes there was no significant difference in mean birth weights between the two groups. When birth weight was controlled for sex, parity, maternal height and weight there was a trivial increase of 15 g over time (P = 0.01). Conclusion: Birth weight has reached a plateau in Hong Kong despite a continuing increase in the regions' socioeconomic status, and evidence of improved nutritional well-being. (C) 1997 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics.