I have used County Health Rankings for years on this site to provide insight into the social ills plaguing the Allegheny mountains. Last year they lost their main funder, the Robert Wood Johnston Foundation. They are not doing major data releases now, but they update their site as new data is released. This post focuses on one variable that recently updated, Low Birth Weight (LBW) Babies in PA by race.
The table at the bottom of the post shows the low-birth-weight rates for each county in Pennsylvania with the state and U.S. rates for comparison. A baby is low birth weight if the child is less than 2,500 grams or 5 pounds 8 ounces at birth. LBW indicates the health of the mother as well as potential future health problems in the child.
Nationally and statewide, African American LBW rates are more than double that of whites. Conversely, Hispanic rates are closer to white rates. Pennsylvania’s African American rate was lower than the national rate (14.2% vs. 14.8), but its Hispanic rate was higher (7.9% vs. 9.1%).
Philadelphia county had the highest overall LBW rate at 11% followed by Fayette at 10%. Sixteen other counties tied at 9%. Of the 18 counties that were above the state rate of 8%, ten were in the Alleghenies. Union and Centre counties tied for the lowest rate at 5%.
For African Americans, Adams County had the highest rate in Pennsylvania at 19%. Adams County is where Gettysburg is. Cambria, Lebanon, Lycoming, and Schuylkill tied for second highest at 18%. The lowest rate was in Centre County at 10%. Thirty one of the 67 counties do not have rates for African Americans.
For Hispanics, Mercer County had the highest LBW rate at 13%. Centre County had the lowest rate at 4% (as well as the lowest rate for African American. Thirty-two counties do not have rates for Hispanics. Interestingly, Lycoming County was tied for the second lowest rate at 6% while it was tied for the second highest at 18% for African Americans. There were too few counties with low birth weight babies rates by race for Asians or other groups to include.
| County | County Value | Error Margin | Hispanic (all races) | Non-Hispanic Black | Non-Hispanic White |
| United States | 8.60% | 7.9% | 14.8% | 7.0% | |
| Pennsylvania | 8% | 8-8% | 7.0% | 14.2% | 10.4% |
| Adams | 7% | 6-7% | 7% | 19% | 6% |
| Allegheny | 9% | 9-9% | 8% | 16% | 7% |
| Armstrong | 8% | 7-9% | |||
| Beaver | 7% | 7-8% | 8% | 14% | 7% |
| Bedford | 6% | 5-7% | |||
| Berks | 8% | 8-8% | 9% | 13% | 7% |
| Blair | 7% | 6-8% | 7% | 12% | 7% |
| Bradford | 7% | 6-8% | |||
| Bucks | 7% | 7-7% | 8% | 11% | 6% |
| Butler | 7% | 6-7% | 5% | 12% | 6% |
| Cambria | 9% | 8-10% | 11% | 18% | 8% |
| Cameron | 9% | 5-13% | |||
| Carbon | 8% | 7-9% | 8% | 14% | 8% |
| Centre | 5% | 5-6% | 4% | 10% | 5% |
| Chester | 6% | 6-7% | 7% | 13% | 5% |
| Clarion | 6% | 5-7% | |||
| Clearfield | 8% | 8-9% | |||
| Clinton | 7% | 6-7% | |||
| Columbia | 7% | 7-8% | 6% | 8% | |
| Crawford | 8% | 8-9% | 17% | 8% | |
| Cumberland | 7% | 7-7% | 7% | 11% | 6% |
| Dauphin | 9% | 9-10% | 9% | 14% | 7% |
| Delaware | 9% | 8-9% | 8% | 13% | 6% |
| Elk | 8% | 7-9% | |||
| Erie | 9% | 9-10% | 11% | 16% | 8% |
| Fayette | 10% | 9-10% | 12% | 15% | 9% |
| Forest | 9% | 5-14% | |||
| Franklin | 8% | 7-8% | 9% | 15% | 7% |
| Fulton | 8% | 6-9% | |||
| Greene | 9% | 8-10% | |||
| Huntingdon | 6% | 5-7% | |||
| Indiana | 7% | 7-8% | 12% | 7% | |
| Jefferson | 8% | 7-9% | |||
| Juniata | 7% | 6-8% | |||
| Lackawanna | 9% | 8-9% | 8% | 14% | 8% |
| Lancaster | 6% | 6-7% | 10% | 13% | 5% |
| Lawrence | 9% | 8-9% | 9% | 17% | 8% |
| Lebanon | 8% | 7-8% | 9% | 18% | 7% |
| Lehigh | 9% | 8-9% | 9% | 13% | 7% |
| Luzerne | 8% | 8-9% | 8% | 14% | 8% |
| Lycoming | 8% | 8-9% | 6% | 18% | 8% |
| McKean | 9% | 8-11% | |||
| Mercer | 9% | 8-9% | 13% | 16% | 8% |
| Mifflin | 6% | 5-7% | |||
| Monroe | 9% | 9-10% | 9% | 13% | 8% |
| Montgomery | 7% | 7-8% | 8% | 13% | 6% |
| Montour | 8% | 7-10% | |||
| Northampton | 8% | 8-8% | 9% | 13% | 7% |
| Northumberland | 8% | 8-9% | 11% | 17% | 8% |
| Perry | 7% | 6-8% | |||
| Philadelphia | 11% | 11-11% | 9% | 15% | 7% |
| Pike | 8% | 7-9% | 6% | 13% | 8% |
| Potter | 6% | 5-8% | |||
| Schuylkill | 8% | 8-9% | 10% | 18% | 8% |
| Snyder | 6% | 5-7% | |||
| Somerset | 8% | 7-9% | |||
| Sullivan* | 7% | 4-10% | |||
| Susquehanna | 6% | 5-7% | |||
| Tioga | 7% | 6-8% | |||
| Union | 5% | 4-6% | |||
| Venango | 8% | 7-9% | |||
| Warren | 9% | 7-10% | |||
| Washington | 8% | 7-8% | 9% | 13% | 7% |
| Wayne | 7% | 6-8% | |||
| Westmoreland | 8% | 8-8% | 9% | 14% | 8% |
| Wyoming | 8% | 6-9% | |||
| York | 9% | 8-9% | 10% | 14% | 8% |
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