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It is important to understand
where term low birthweight (TLBW) births are occurring in Alameda County.
This information can be used for various public health
actions, including targeting resources, planning
interventions, evaluating programs, and developing policies.
We created tables and charts
showing TLBW rates by city and ZIP code. This
information can be useful for making comparisons between
locations and for comparing to other information that is
categorized by city or ZIP codes.
We also created a smoothed surface
map of TLBW rates in Alameda County for 2001. This map
is useful for looking at rates at the neighborhood
level. To learn more about how we made these maps, go to Data and
Methods Overview.
Reading the map
- A smoothed-surface map is like a
contour map of rates. Instead of showing the term low birthweight birth rates by
geographic unit (such as a ZIP code), it shows a continuous surface.
This gives a more realistic representation of what preterm birth looks like in the
county, while preserving the
confidentiality of the individuals whose records we used to
create the map.
- The orange circles on the map show locations where
the elevation in rate was statistically significant compared to the Alameda
County rate of 2.4%. This means that
the difference between the rates of these locations and the countywide rate is not
due to random chance.
- Because these maps are showing rates, population
density is accounted for. In other words, an area does not appear
"high" just because there are more people living there. The rates are
mapped by maternal address- where the mother was living at the time she gave
birth.
Below is a map showing rates of TLBW in Alameda County in
2001. The data used to create the map came from the
California Department of Health Statistics, Center for
Health Statistics.
TERM LOW BIRTHWEIGHT IN ALAMEDA COUNTY
Statistically significant elevations in rates of TLBW births
were located in the
northwest part of Alameda County. Similar to preterm births, rates of TLBW
births that were significantly higher than the county rate
exist mainly in Oakland. Another grouping of elevated
rates exist around San Lorenzo, just below the split
between the Interstate-880 and Interstate-580 freeways.
Click here to download the map in PDF.
 You can also
look at this map on InfoAlamedaCounty's online interactive web
mapping tool at
www.InfoAlamedaCounty.org. This interactive
interface allows the user to see the pilot project results
and map other information on the county, including demographics,
housing, and labor. It also allows the user
to zoom in to specific locations and to examine the
information by city, zip code, and census tract.
TERM LOW BIRTHWEIGHT BY CITY
Reading the chart -
The dotted line across each chart shows the rate of TLBW births for all of California, which is 2.1%.
- The 95% confidence interval (CI) is the range of values that likely contains the true percent of term low birthweight births within the population. The upper and lower limits of this range are indicated by the thin black lines on each bar on the chart. These are sometimes known as error bars.
- Rates (or percents) were calculated by dividing the total number of
TLBW births by the total number of live singleton births at full term in Alameda County.
Figure 2. shows percentages of TLBW
births across Alameda County cities.
The rates among cities varied. For example, Oakland had five times the rate of TLBW
when compared to Castro Valley (3.1% and
0.6%). Cherryland had the highest percentage of TLBW births at 5.4%, although the
confidence interval was very wide. The
TLBW rates for cities in the southern part of Alameda Count
(Fremont, Newark, Union City, and Hayward)
were not significantly different from the statewide rate (2.06%).
Click here to download a PDF of Figure 2.
We have also calculated
percents of TLBW by city and ZIP code. Click below to download the
tables in
PDF.
Preterm birth and TLBW by city- table
Preterm birth and TLBW by ZIP code- table
Go to:
Preterm birth disparities
Preterm birth map
and tables
Term low birthweight map
and tables
FAQs on
birth outcomes and results
Return to
the birth outcomes findings page
Pilot Project
Findings | Overview of Pilot Project Data and Methods |
Glossary of Scientific and Statistical Terms |
Additional Resources
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