Michigan Natatilty Statistics

Number of Low Birthweight Live Births by Race & Hispanic Ancestry of Mother
and Kessner Index
Berrien County Health Department,
Michigan 2019
Race & Hispanic Ancestry of Mother	Kessner Index
Race & Hispanic Ancestry of Mother	Total	Adequate	Intermediate	Inadequate
Total	134	54	42	38
White	63	27	18	18
Black	59	21	22	16
All Other Races	12	6	2	4
Hispanic	4	2	-	2

Rate of Low Birthweight Live Births by Race & Hispanic Ancestry of Mother
and Kessner Index
Berrien County Health Department,
Michigan 2019
Race & Hispanic Ancestry of Mother	Kessner Index
Race & Hispanic Ancestry of Mother	Total	Adequate	Intermediate	Inadequate
Total	83.7	55.3	92.7	220.9
White	58.9	36.1	73.8	227.8
Black	144.3	129.6	127.9	213.3
All Other Races	98.4	89.6	*	*
Hispanic	*	*	-	*

Live Births by Kessner Index
Berrien County Health Department,
Michigan 2019
Race & Hispanic Ancestry of Mother	Kessner Index
Race & Hispanic Ancestry of Mother	Total	Adequate	Intermediate	Inadequate
Total	1,601	976	453	172
White	1,070	747	244	79
Black	409	162	172	75
All Other Races	122	67	37	18
Hispanic	139	80	38	21

Notes:

Rates are per 1,000 live births.

*An asterisk indicates figure does not meet standards of reliability or precision.

-A dash indicates quantity zero.

Kessner Index: The Kessner Index is a classification of prenatal care based on the month of pregnancy in which prenatal care began, the number of prenatal visits and the length of pregnancy (i.e. for shorter pregnancies, fewer prenatal visits constitute adequate care.)

Kessner Index Measurement Definitions:

Adequate: Care that began within the first trimester and included an average of at least one or two additional prenatal visits per month of gestation, depending on the length of gestation.

Intermediate: Care that began during the second trimester of pregnancy with correspondingly fewer visits, or began during the first trimester but with fewer visits than would be appropriate for the length of gestation.

Inadequate: When no care was received or if care began during the third trimester. It is also inadequate if care began during the first or second trimester but less than five visits occurred, when the length of gestation was 34 weeks or more. When the length of gestation was less than 34 weeks, care is defined as inadequate when care began during the first or second trimester but a number of visits less that four occurred, that number depending on the actual weeks of gestation.

Records with unknown level of prenatal care are included only in the total row.

Low Birthweight: Live births weighing less than 2,500 grams.

Source: 2019 Geocoded Michigan Birth Certificate Registry.
Division for Vital Records & Health Statistics, Michigan Department of Health & Human Services