In order to assess the influence of birth weight on the type of birth two maternity hospitals whose patients were of different socio-economic levels were studied. 16,095 births were analysed. It was discovered that the incidence of cesarian sections increased with the increase in birth weight in both hospitals, but that in the private hospital the incidence was four times higher than in the hospital for the poor. No relation was found, in those women who received private treatment, between type of brith and birth weight. Among those babies who weighed 2500g or less at birth, there was found to be a significant predominance of girls and for those who weighed more than 4000g there was, equally, a larger proportion of boys.
Birth weight; Labor; Infant newborn