Low Birth Weight Births in Tulsa County

About

This metric shows infants weighing less than 2,500 grams (5 pounds, 8 ounces) at birth. This statistic is expressed as a percentage of all live births to Tulsa County mothers, reported by single calendar years. Infants born with low birth weight are at higher risk for health complications such as developmental delays and respiratory problems. Factors like smoking, alcohol use, poor nutrition, stress, domestic violence, and environmental exposures can increase the risk. Early and regular prenatal care plays a critical role in helping prevent low birth weight and improving health outcomes. Total births at the ZIP code level were calculated by the Tulsa Health Department (THD) using raw data files from the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH), Center for Health Statistics, Health Care Information. For county-level data, an alternate source is the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH), Center for Health Statistics, Health Care Information, accessed via Oklahoma Statistics on Health Available for Everyone (OK2SHARE) at http://www.health.ok.gov/ok2share.

Initiatives

Targeting Change

Tulsa Health Department
The Maternal Child Health Outreach program works to identify and address individual maternal and child health issues, needs and barriers with a focus on improved birth outcomes. Expecting mothers, young children and their families receive assistance from outreach and social workers. Spanish, English and Burmese/Zomi speaking staff are available to provide services at three locations (James O. Goodwin Health Center, Central Regional Health Center and the North Regional Health & Wellness Center) or various community based partnerships. Services include: * SoonerCare/Medicaid enrollment assistance * Links to other services both internal at the Tulsa Health Department and external in the community * Referrals to basic needs (food, shelter and clothing) * Depression screenings * Warm hand-offs to mental health treatment, case management and to other appropriate resources as needed * Educational messages including safe sleep, birth spacing and reproductive life planning In addition, the team also includes community system development specialists to raise public awareness about infant mortality on a system level and develop and implement prevention strategies to address local causes of infant death in the Tulsa Community. For more information, please contact: Kathy Kleine Crabtree: 918-594-4766, kkleine@tulsa-health.org