Neonatology

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Premature infants, low birth weight, small for gestational age

Africa

• BMJ Paediatrics Open
  • Feasibility and diagnostic accuracy of neonatal anthropometric measurements in identifying low birthweight and preterm infants in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis [2024]

Australia

• Queensland Health
  • Term small for gestational age newborn baby

• WA Health
  • Skin Care Guideline
  • Hyperkalaemia Management

Australia, New Zealand

• BMJ Paediatrics Open
  • Prediction of outcomes of extremely low gestational age newborns in Australia and New Zealand [2017]

Bangladesh

• International Health
  • Mapping the prevalence and socioeconomic predictors of low birth weight among Bangladeshi newborns: evidence from the 2019 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey [2022]

• PLoS ONE
  • Socioeconomic inequality in the prevalence of low birth weight and its associated determinants in Bangladesh [2022]

Brazil

• BMJ Open
  • Burden of early-term birth on adverse infant outcomes: a population-based cohort study in Brazil [2017]

Canada

• BMC Pediatrics
  • Regional variation in cost of neonatal intensive care for extremely preterm infants [2021]
  • The economic burden of prematurity in Canada [2014]

• Canadian Neonatal Network
  • Process and Outcome Measures for Infants Born Moderate and Late Preterm in Tertiary Canadian Neonatal Intensive Care Units [2024]
  • Noninvasive Respiratory Support or Intubation during Stabilization after Birth and Neonatal and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Infants Born Preterm at 23-25 Weeks of Gestation [2024]
  • Outcomes and resource usage of infants born at <= 25 weeks gestation in Canada [2020]

• Canadian Paediatric Society
  • Follow-up care of the extremely preterm infant after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit [2022]
  • Discharge planning of the preterm infant [2022]
  • Assessment of cardiorespiratory stability using the infant car seat challenge before discharge in preterm infants (<37 weeks’ gestational age) [2016]

Chile

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Trends in gestational age and birth weight in Chile, 1991--2008. A descriptive epidemiological study [2012]

China

• China CDC Weekly
  • Trends in Mortality of Low Birth Weight Infants - China, 2004-2019 [2022]

• JAMA Network Open
  • Maternal Characteristics and Prevalence of Infants Born Small for Gestational Age [2024]
  • Mortality and Morbidity of Infants Born Extremely Preterm at Tertiary Medical Centers in China From 2010 to 2019 [2021]
  • Estimated Survival and Major Comorbidities of Very Preterm Infants Discharged Against Medical Advice vs Treated With Intensive Care in China [2021]
  • Assessment of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Practices, Morbidity, and Mortality Among Very Preterm Infants in China [2021]

• Scientific Reports
  • Prevalence of low birth weight and macrosomia estimates based on heaping adjustment method in China [2021]

• Translational Pediatrics
  • Neonatal outcome of small for gestational age infants born at 26–33 weeks’ gestation in Chinese neonatal intensive care units [2021]

Cuba

• Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine
  • Low Birth Weight Outcomes: Why Better in Cuba Than Alabama? [2013]

Denmark

• Acta Paediatrica
  • Comparing minimally invasive and proactive initial management of extremely preterm infants [2014]

• Scientific Reports
  • Gestational age and trajectories of body mass index and height from birth through adolescence in the Danish National Birth Cohort [2023]

Developing countries

• Journal of Epidemiology
  • Meta-Analysis: Identification of Low Birthweight by Other Anthropometric Measurements at Birth in Developing Countries [2011]

Ethiopia

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Using household survey data to explore the effects of the domiciliary environment on weight at birth: a multilevel mixed-effects analysis of the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey [2023]
  • Prevalence of and socioeconomic gradient in low birth weight in Ethiopia: further analysis of the 2016 demographic and health survey data [2020]

• BMJ Paediatrics Open
  • Spatial distribution and factors associated with low birth weight in Ethiopia using data from Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey 2016: spatial and multilevel analysis [2021]

• Ethiopian Journal of Health Sciences
  • Prevalence and Predictors of “Small Size” Babies in Ethiopia: In-depth Analysis of the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey, 2011 [2016]

• Global Pediatric Health
  • Factors Associated with the Death of Preterm Babies Admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care Units in Ethiopia: A Prospective, Cross-sectional, and Observational Study [2020]

Europe

• European Standards of Care for Newborn Health
  • Immunisation of preterm infants

France

• BMC Health Services Research
  • Prenatal and post-natal cost of small for gestational age infants: a national study [2017]

• International Journal of Epidemiology
  • Cohort Profile: the Etude Epidémiologique sur les Petits Ages Gestationnels-2 (EPIPAGE-2) preterm birth cohort [2021]

France, Sweden, United Kingdom

• Acta Paediatrica
  • Birth outcomes between 22 and 26 weeks' gestation in national population-based cohorts from Sweden, England and France [2022]

Germany

• Frontiers in Pediatrics
  • Mortality and Major Morbidity of Very-Low-Birth-Weight Infants in Germany 2008–2012: A Report Based on Administrative Data [2016]

High-income countries

• BMJ Open
  • How do socioeconomic inequalities and preterm birth interact to modify health and education outcomes? A narrative systematic review [2025]

Hungary

• BMC Health Services Research
  • Incremental cost of premature birth - a public health care payer perspective from Hungary [2023]

• PLoS ONE
  • Socio-economic differences among low-birthweight infants in Hungary. Results of the Cohort '18 -Growing Up in Hungary birth cohort study [2023]

India

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Regional with urban-rural variation in low birth weight and its determinants of Indian children: findings from National Family Health Survey 5 data [2023]
  • Prevalence and correlates of low birth weight in India: findings from national family health survey 5 [2023]
  • Increase in birthweight coverage of neonatal deaths is needed to monitor low birthweight prevalence in India: lessons from the National Family Health Survey [2023]
  • Small for gestational age births among South Indian women: temporal trend and risk factors from 1996 to 2010 [2015]

• PLoS ONE
  • Maternal determinants of low birth weight among Indian children: Evidence from the National Family Health Survey-4, 2015-16 [2020]

Indonesia

• International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
  • Maternal Characteristics and Socio-Economic Factors as Determinants of Low Birth Weight in Indonesia: Analysis of 2017 Indonesian Demographic and Health Survey (IDHS) [2022]

• Midwifery
  • Multilevel modelling of the determinants of low birth weight in frontier, outermost and underdeveloped regions: Evidence from the Indonesian National Socioeconomic Survey (2019-2021) [2024]

• Nutrients
  • Policy to Decrease Low Birth Weight in Indonesia: Who Should Be the Target? [2023]

• Rural and Remote Health
  • Profile and factors associated with low birth weight in Indonesia: a national data survey [2025]

International

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Influence of different methods for calculating gestational age at birth on prematurity and small for gestational age proportions: a systematic review with meta-analysis [2023]

• BMJ
  • Management and outcomes of extreme preterm birth [2022]

• BMJ Global Health
  • Diagnostic accuracy of neonatal foot length to identify preterm and low birthweight infants: a systematic review and meta-analysis [2020]

• Endocrine Reviews
  • International Consensus Guideline on Small for Gestational Age: Etiology and Management From Infancy to Early Adulthood [2023]

• Frontiers in Public Health
  • Survival outcomes among periviable infants: a systematic review and meta-analysis comparing different income countries and time periods [2024]

• Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics
  • Penta- and hexavalent vaccination of extremely and very-to-moderate preterm infants born at less than 34 weeks and/or under 1500 g: A systematic literature review [2023]

• Intergrowth-21st
  • Postnatal growth standards for preterm infants: the Preterm Postnatal Follow-up Study of the INTERGROWTH-21st Project [2015]

• International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
  • Attachment- and Relationship-Based Interventions during NICU Hospitalization for Families with Preterm/Low-Birth Weight Infants: A Systematic Review of RCT Data [2022]

• JAMA Pediatrics
  • Global, Regional, and National Incidence and Mortality of Neonatal Preterm Birth, 1990-2019 [2022]

• Journal of Global Health
  • The global burden of disease attributable to preterm birth and low birth weight in 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2019: An analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study [2024]

• Journal of Nutrition
  • WHO Child Growth Standards Are Often Incorrectly Applied to Children Born Preterm in Epidemiologic Research [2015]

• Lancet
  • National, regional, and global estimates of preterm birth in 2020, with trends from 2010: a systematic analysis [2023]

• Médecins Sans Frontières
  • Care of the low birth weight neonates (< 2500 g) [2019]

• PeerJ
  • Quality improvement bundles to decrease hypothermia in very low/extremely low birth weight infants at birth: a systematic review and meta-analysis [2024]

• PLoS ONE
  • Categorising interventions to levels of inpatient care for small and sick newborns: Findings from a global survey [2019]

• Reproductive Health
  • Born Too Soon: Care for the preterm baby [2013]

• Vaccine
  • Small for gestational age: Case definition & guidelines for data collection, analysis, and presentation of maternal immunisation safety data [2017]
  • Low birth weight: Case definition & guidelines for data collection, analysis, and presentation of maternal immunization safety data [2017]

Iran

• Heliyon
  • Epidemiology of low birth weight in Iran: A systematic review and meta-analysis [2020]

• Journal of Pregnancy
  • A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis on the Prevalence of Low Birth Weight Infants in Iran [2020]

Israel

• Journal of Perinatal Medicine
  • Improved method for revising the Israel birthweight references [2022]

Italy

• Italian Journal of Pediatrics
  • Hexavalent vaccines in preterm infants: an update by Italian Society of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology jointly with the Italian Society of Neonatology [2019]
  • Cost of care and social consequences of very low birth weight infants without premature- related morbidities in Italy [2015]

Japan

• Annals of Epidemiology
  • Relationship between prenatal checkup status and low birth weight: a nationwide birth cohort-the Japan Environment and Children's Study [2023]

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Factors associated with birthweight decline in Japan (1980–2004) [2021]

• Frontiers in Reproductive Health
  • Twenty-Year Trends of Low Birth Weight in Japan: A Joinpoint Regression Analysis of Data From 2000 to 2019 [2021]

• Scientific Reports
  • Japanese secular trends in birthweight and the prevalence of low birthweight infants during the last three decades: A population-based study [2016]

Jordan

• Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal
  • Prevalence and risk factors for low birth weight in Jordan and its association with under-five mortality: a population-based analysis [2020]

Latin America

• BMC Pediatrics
  • Latin American Consensus: Children Born Small for Gestational Age [2011]

Low and middle income countries

• BMJ Global Health
  • Evidence-based interventions to reduce mortality among preterm and low-birthweight neonates in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis [2021]

• BMJ Open
  • Pooled prevalence and factors of low birth weight among newborns in the top 20 countries with the highest infant mortality: analysis of recent demographic and health surveys [2025]

• Journal of Global Health
  • A systematic review on estimating population attributable fraction for risk factors for small-for-gestational-age births in 81 low- and middle-income countries [2023]
  • A comprehensive model for scaling up care for small and/or sick newborns at district level-based on country experiences presented at a WHO-UNICEF expert consultation [2023]
  • Interventions to reduce preterm birth and stillbirth, and improve outcomes for babies born preterm in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review [2021]

• Lancet Global Health
  • National and regional estimates of term and preterm babies born small for gestational age in 138 low-income and middle-income countries in 2010 [2013]

• Lancet Planetary Health
  • Estimating the burden of temperature-related low birthweight attributable to anthropogenic climate change in low-income and middle-income countries: a retrospective, multicentre, epidemiological study [2024]

• PLoS ONE
  • ELBW and ELGAN outcomes in developing nations–Systematic review and meta-analysis [2021]

• Reproductive Health
  • Regional trends in birth weight in low- and middle-income countries 2013–2018 [2020]

Malaysia

• BMJ Paediatrics Open
  • Ten-year trend of care practices, morbidities and survival of very preterm neonates in the Malaysian National Neonatal Registry: a retrospective cohort study [2021]

Mexico

• Frontiers in Public Health
  • Maternal Risk Factors for Small-for-Gestational-Age Newborns in Mexico: Analysis of a Nationwide Representative Cohort [2021]

• PLoS ONE
  • Incidence of low birth weight in Mexico: A descriptive retrospective study from 2008–2017 [2021]

Nepal

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Examining the combined effect of antenatal care visits and iron-folic acid supplementation on low birth weight: a pooled analysis of two national data sets from Nepal [2024]

• PLoS ONE
  • Mother's perception of size at birth is a weak predictor of low birth weight: Evidence from Nepal Demographic and Health Survey [2023]

Netherlands

• Archives of Disease in Childhood. Fetal and Neonatal Edition
  • Survival and causes of death in extremely preterm infants in the Netherlands [2021]

• BMJ Open
  • Morbidity and trends in length of hospitalisation of very and extremely preterm infants born between 2008 and 2021 in the Netherlands: a cohort study [2024]

• Seminars in Perinatology
  • Dutch guidelines on care for extremely premature infants: Navigating between personalisation and standardization [2022]

New Zealand

• Starship
  • Practice recommendations for skin care of neonates < 28 weeks gestation
  • Practice Recommendation for the bundle of neonatal care at 23-24 weeks gestation
  • Hyperkalaemia in the neonate
  • Extremely Low Birth Weight Skin Care Management

Norway

• BMJ Paediatrics Open
  • Admission temperature in very preterm infants 2012-2021: a Nationwide Quality Registry Study, Norway [2025]

OECD countries

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Low birth weight trends in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, 2000–2015: economic, health system and demographic conditionings [2021]

Oman

• Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal
  • Increasing Incidence of Infants with Low Birth Weight in Oman [2015]

Pacific Islands

• Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific
  • Prevalence and risk factors of adverse birth outcomes in the Pacific Island region: A scoping review [2022]

Peru

• International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
  • Altitude and Its Association with Low Birth Weight among Children of 151,873 Peruvian Women: A Pooled Analysis of a Nationally Representative Survey [2023]

Qatar

• PLoS ONE
  • Incidence, risk factors, and feto-maternal outcomes of inappropriate birth weight for gestational age among singleton live births in Qatar: A population-based study [2021]

Republic of Korea

• BMC Pediatrics
  • Developmental outcomes of very low birth weight infants with catch-up head growth: a nationwide cohort study [2023]

• Journal of Korean Medical Science
  • Medical Utilization and Costs in Preterm Infants in the First 6 Years of Life After Discharge From Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Nationwide Population-Based Study in Korea [2022]
  • Growth Pattern With Morbidities From Birth to 5 Years of Age in Very Low Birth Weight Infants: Comparison of the Korean National Network and National Health Insurance Service [2022]
  • Mortality Rate and Major Causes of Death by Gestational Age in Korean Children under 5 Years of Age [2020]
  • National Registry Data from Korean Neonatal Network: Two-Year Outcomes of Korean Very Low Birth Weight Infants Born in 2013–2014 [2018]
  • Percentile Distributions of Birth Weight according to Gestational Ages in Korea (2010-2012) [2016]
  • Changes in Survival Rate for Very-Low-Birth-Weight Infants in Korea: Comparison with Other Countries [2015]

• Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine
  • Comparison of neonatal outcomes between multiples and singletons among very low birth weight infants: the Korean Neonatal Network cohort study [2023]

• Neonatology
  • Learning-Based Longitudinal Prediction Models for Mortality Risk in Very-Low-Birth-Weight Infants: A Nationwide Cohort Study [2023]

• Scientific Reports
  • Rising public costs of preterm infant hospitalization in South Korea from a nationwide observational study [2025]

Rwanda

• BMC Health Services Research
  • Association between quality antenatal care and low birth weight in Rwanda: a cross-sectional study design using the Rwanda demographic and health surveys data [2023]
  • Evaluating the medical direct costs associated with prematurity during the initial hospitalization in Rwanda: a prevalence based cost of illness study [2022]

Singapore

• Pediatrics and Neonatology
  • Trends in neonatal mortality and morbidity in very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants over a decade: Singapore national cohort study [2023]

South-East Asia

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
  • Antenatal Care Services and Incidence of Low Birth Weight: A Comparison of Demographic and Health Surveys in 4 ASEAN Countries [2022]

Spain

• Sociedad Española de Neonatología
  • Recommendations for the perinatal management and follow-up of moderate and late preterm infants [2025]
  • Small for gestational age: concept, diagnosis and neonatal characterization, follow-up and recommendations [2024]

Sub-Saharan Africa

• Frontiers in Public Health
  • Effect of antenatal care on low birth weight: a systematic review and meta-analysis in Africa, 2022 [2023]

• PLoS ONE
  • Prevalence of low birth weight and its associated factor at birth in Sub-Saharan Africa: A generalized linear mixed model [2021]

Sweden

• Acta Paediatrica
  • Perinatal risk factors for mortality in very preterm infants-A nationwide, population-based discriminant analysis [2022]

• JAMA
  • Association Between Year of Birth and 1-Year Survival Among Extremely Preterm Infants in Sweden During 2004-2007 and 2014-2016 [2019]

Switzerland

• Acta Paediatrica
  • Swiss medical centres vary significantly when it comes to outcomes of neonates with a very low gestational age [2015]

Taiwan

• Scientific Reports
  • Predicting early mortality and severe intraventricular hemorrhage in very-low birth weight preterm infants: a nationwide, multicenter study using machine learning [2024]

Tanzania

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • The prevalence of low birth weight and its associated maternal factors among women of reproductive age who gave birth to live babies within five years preceding the survey in Tanzania: an analysis of data from the 2015-16 Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey and Malaria Indicators Survey [2024]
  • Risk factors for small-for-gestational-age and preterm births among 19,269 Tanzanian newborns [2016]

United Arab Emirates

• Scientific Reports
  • Infant birth weight estimation and low birth weight classification in United Arab Emirates using machine learning algorithms [2022]

United Kingdom

• BMC Pediatrics
  • A national survey of admission practices for late preterm infants in England [2014]

• BMJ Open
  • Small-for-gestational age and large-for-gestational age thresholds to predict infants at risk of adverse delivery and neonatal outcomes: are current charts adequate? An observational study from the Born in Bradford cohort [2015]

• BMJ Paediatrics Open
  • Neonatal health care costs of very preterm babies in England: a retrospective analysis of a national birth cohort [2023]

• British Association of Perinatal Medicine
  • Framework: Perioperative care of extremely premature babies at <28 weeks gestation [2024]
  • Framework: Early Postnatal Care of the Moderate-Late Preterm Infant [2023]
  • Pre-hospital management of the baby born at extreme preterm gestation [2022]
  • Perinatal Management of Extreme Preterm Birth Before 27 weeks of Gestation (2019) [2019]

• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
  • Developmental follow-up of children and young people born preterm (Quality standard) [2018]
  • Developmental follow-up of children and young people born preterm [2017]

• PLoS Medicine
  • All-Cause Mortality of Low Birthweight Infants in Infancy, Childhood, and Adolescence: Population Study of England and Wales [2016]

• PLoS ONE
  • Gestational age at birth and academic attainment in primary and secondary school in England: Evidence from a national cohort study [2022]

• Right Decisions
  • Hyperglycemia in the neonate

• Scottish Perinatal Network
  • Management of Extreme Preterm Infants (22+0 to 23+6 weeks) [2024]

United States

• Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine
  • ABM Clinical Protocol #12: Transitioning the Breastfeeding Preterm Infant from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to Home, Revised 2018 [2018]

• American Academy of Pediatrics
  • Updates on an At-Risk Population: Late-Preterm and Early-Term Infants [2019]
  • Safe Transportation of Preterm and Low Birth Weight Infants at Hospital Discharge [2009]

• BMC Public Health
  • Trends in infants born at low birthweight and disparities by maternal race and education from 2003 to 2018 in the United States [2021]

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  • Birthweight

• Children
  • Trends in Costs of Birth Hospitalization and Readmissions for Late Preterm Infants [2021]

• Health Affairs
  • Trend Toward Older Maternal Age Contributed To Growing Racial Inequity In Very-Low-Birthweight Infants In The US [2023]

• JAMA
  • Trends in Active Treatment of Live-born Neonates Between 22 Weeks 0 Days and 25 Weeks 6 Days by Gestational Age and Maternal Race and Ethnicity in the US, 2014 to 2020 [2022]
  • Trends in Care Practices, Morbidity, and Mortality of Extremely Preterm Neonates, 1993–2012 [2015]

• JAMA Network Open
  • Association of Active Postnatal Care With Infant Survival Among Periviable Infants in the US [2023]

• Maternal Health, Neonatology and Perinatology
  • Prematurity and low birth weight: geospatial analysis and recent trends [2022]

• National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
  • Low Birth Weight Babies and Disability [2024]

• National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
  • Mode of delivery and outcomes among inborn extremely preterm singletons: A cohort study [2024]
  • Use of term reference infants in assessing the developmental outcome of extremely preterm infants: lessons learned in a multicenter study [2023]
  • Predictive performance of newborn small for gestational age by a United States intrauterine vs birthweight-derived standard for short-term neonatal morbidity and mortality [2022]
  • Mortality, In-Hospital Morbidity, Care Practices, and 2-Year Outcomes for Extremely Preterm Infants in the US, 2013-2018 [2022]
  • Racial/Ethnic Disparities Among Extremely Preterm Infants in the United States From 2002 to 2016 [2020]
  • Outcomes of Extremely Preterm Infants With Birth Weight Less Than 400 g [2019]
  • Birth weight discordance in very low birth weight twins: mortality, morbidity, and neurodevelopment [2019]
  • Neonatal Morbidity of Small- and Large-for-Gestational-Age Neonates Born at Term in Uncomplicated Pregnancies [2017]
  • Preterm neonatal morbidity and mortality by gestational age: a contemporary cohort [2016]
  • Trends in Care Practices, Morbidity, and Mortality of Extremely Preterm Neonates, 1993-2012 [2015]
  • Causes and timing of death in extremely premature infants from 2000 through 2011 [2015]
  • Between-hospital variation in treatment and outcomes in extremely preterm infants [2015]
  • Ten-year review of major birth defects in VLBW infants [2013]

• National Perinatal Association
  • Multidisciplinary guidelines for the care of late preterm infants [2013]

West Africa

• Public Health Nutrition
  • Secular trends in low birth weight and child undernutrition in West Africa: evidence from complex nationwide surveys, 1985-2019 [2022]

WHO

• World Health Organization
  • WHO recommendations for care of the preterm or low-birth-weight infant [2022]
  • UNICEF-WHO low birthweight estimates: levels and trends 2000-2015 [2019]
  • Survive and thrive: transforming care for every small and sick newborn [2019]
  • Global nutrition targets 2025: low birth weight policy brief [2014]
  • Low birthweighth - Country, regional and global estimates [2004]
  • Preterm and low birth weight infants
  • Low birth weight, prevalence (%)
  • Low birth weight (in thousands)
  • Low birth weight (WHO Mortality Database)

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