| Summary: | 碩士 === 中華大學 === 行政管理學系研究所碩士班 === 95 === Low birthweight newborns usually have not only higher mortality rates, but also more medical problems, that cause development difficulties during their growth. If rate of low birthweight deliveries is still high, national medical expenditure will rise very rapidly due to soaring costs of care for low birthweight newborns. The birth rate in Hsinchu city ranks the highest all over the country, so the rate of low birthweight deliveries in Hsinchu city is critical to that in the country. Therefore, this study intended to find out the rate of low birthweight deliveries in Hsinchu city, and to explore the possible causes of low birthweight deliveries. This study also attempted to assist future pregnant women to avoid the risk factors for low birthweight deliveries to effectively reduce low birthweight newborns.
This study used the 2004 birth data from National Health Bureau, Department of Health. There were 4,452 valid samples in Hsinchu city. The Chi-Square Test implied the following findings: the older the pregnant woman, the higher the rate of low birthweight deliveries; by the same token, the older the newborn’s father, the higher the rate of low birthweight deliveries; women with pregnancy less than 37 weeks are relatively easier to deliver low birthweight babies; pregnant women with tocolysis are relatively easier to deliver low birthweight babies; baby girls are more likely to be low birthweight than baby boys; the second twin newborn is more likely to be low birthweight than the first one; compared with single newborns, twin newborns are more likely to be low birthweight; compared with other age groups, fathers aged from 35 to 39 years old are more likely to have low birthweight newborns.
Based on the above findings policy recommendations were provided as follows: 1. strengthen health education of pregnant women; 2. increase the nutrition for pregnant women; 3. encourage pregnant women to get proper and adequate prenatal care; 4. offer foreign spouses with adequate medical coverage; 5. employ medical interpreters in hospitals and clinics to assist foreign spouses; 6. propose legal amendments of maternity leave provisions for working women; 7. propose legal amendments of maternity leave provisions for pregnant women with special needs.
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