ABSTRACT
Birthweight along with gestational age have long been recognised as the main determinant of neonatal and infant mortality and morbidity. In response to the greatly increased risk of adverse neonatal outcomes among infants weighing less than 2 5 0 0 g and those born early, research on the determinants of birthweight and gestational age has focused on the lower extremes of the distribution. While this research has identified important risk factors, exam ination across the whole birthweight range including population means and distributions throws additional light on how birthweight is determined. For this reason, this book is concerned with the determinants of birthweight rather than low birthweight or preterm birth and attempts to combine the large volume of evidence related to risk factors for low birthweight and preterm birth with the much smaller evidence base related to the whole birthweight range.
