title: Are Hong Kong babies getting bigger?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To establish recent birth weight trends in Hong Kong.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 10,512 confinements for the years 1985-86, and 7857 for the years 1995-96 were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  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).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Brieger
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: A W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Rushton
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mongelli
mesh_terms: D001724:Birth Weight; D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D005260:Female; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D010298:Parity; D011247:Pregnancy; D012744:Sex Ratio; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors