A survey was made of the birth weight of live births and delivery care at hospitals in the city of Araraquara, S. Paulo State, Brazil, in 4,776 newborn infants during 1986. The incidence of cesarean delivery was 76.0%. It was discovered that the proportion of cesarean delivery was higher for deliveries with private medical care (92.4%) than for deliveries with free assistance (44.0%). The incidence of low birth weight was of 9.2%. The highest proportion was found in patients with free medical assistance and was of 10.8%, that of social security patients being at an intermediate level (9.8%) and of private patients at 5.6%.
Birth weight; Delivery; Hospitalization