• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Wednesday, September 24, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News

COVID-19 pandemic tied to low birth weight for infants in India, study shows

by
July 2, 2024
in Science News
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
Santosh Kumar
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

The incidence of low birth weight rose sharply in India amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research from the University of Notre Dame.

Santosh Kumar

Credit: University of Notre Dame

The incidence of low birth weight rose sharply in India amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research from the University of Notre Dame.

Globally, 1 in 4 newborns has a low birth weight (less than 5.5 pounds), and the problem disproportionately affects low- and middle-income countries — particularly in South Asia, home to approximately one-fourth of the world’s population.

Santosh Kumar, associate professor of development and global health economics at Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, co-authored the study published in Communications Medicine, a Nature series journal.

“This research shows that low birth weight became more common in India during the pandemic,” Kumar said. “We saw the exacerbation of a global health problem that affects educational outcomes and poverty rates.

“Children who have lower birth weight as infants often go on to struggle with school, and this limits their capacity to develop what economists often call ‘human capital’ — the key knowledge and skills that will affect their ability to earn a good living and support themselves and their families.”

The study found that babies born between April 2020 and April 2021 had lower birth weights than previous birth cohorts (those born before the pandemic), Kumar said. Researchers analyzed data from more than 200,000 infants, Kumar said, including a pandemic cohort that included almost 12,000 infants and a pre-pandemic cohort of approximately 192,000.

The prevalence of low birth weight was 20 percent in the pandemic group, up from 17 percent in the pre-pandemic group, Kumar said, and infants in the pandemic group weighed about four-tenths of an ounce less than those in the pre-pandemic group.

Multiple factors related to the pandemic may have affected the health behaviors of pregnant women and contributed to lower birth weights, Kumar said, including the SARS-CoV-2 virus, stress related to social distancing, economic upheaval and the disruption of maternal and neonatal care.

The study’s co-authors were Clare Hill, a Notre Dame undergraduate student majoring in political science and global affairs with a minor in data science, and Timothy J. Halliday, an economist at the University of Hawaii. The study received funding from the Keough School’s Kellogg Institute for International Studies.

Kumar said this latest research, which expands on his work at the intersection of poverty and global health, highlights the need for targeted policies that reduce the incidence of low birth weights — for instance, ensuring that women from low-income populations have adequate nutrients and caloric intake during pregnancy and also have access to quality prenatal care.

“Our research underscores the need for targeted policies to reduce the risk of low birth weight,” Kumar said. “This will help create greater educational and economic opportunity and, ultimately, reduce poverty.”

Contact: Tracy DeStazio, associate director of media relations, 574-631-9958 or [email protected]



Journal

Communications Medicine

DOI

10.1038/s43856-024-00545-4

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Effects of COVID-19 pandemic on low birth weight in a nationwide study in India

Article Publication Date

14-Jun-2024

Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Revolutionizing Microtia Treatment: Advances in Tissue Engineering

September 23, 2025
Cornelis (Cees) Dekker Honored with 2026 Kazuhiko Kinosita Award in Single-Molecule Biophysics

Cornelis (Cees) Dekker Honored with 2026 Kazuhiko Kinosita Award in Single-Molecule Biophysics

September 23, 2025

Nuria Assa-Munt Honored with 2026 Rosalba Kampman Distinguished Service Award

September 23, 2025

Revolutionary Smart Device Leverages AI and Bioelectronics to Accelerate Wound Healing

September 23, 2025

POPULAR NEWS

  • Physicists Develop Visible Time Crystal for the First Time

    Physicists Develop Visible Time Crystal for the First Time

    69 shares
    Share 28 Tweet 17
  • Breakthrough in Computer Hardware Advances Solves Complex Optimization Challenges

    156 shares
    Share 62 Tweet 39
  • Tailored Gene-Editing Technology Emerges as a Promising Treatment for Fatal Pediatric Diseases

    50 shares
    Share 20 Tweet 13
  • Scientists Achieve Ambient-Temperature Light-Induced Heterolytic Hydrogen Dissociation

    49 shares
    Share 20 Tweet 12

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Revolutionizing Microtia Treatment: Advances in Tissue Engineering

Cornelis (Cees) Dekker Honored with 2026 Kazuhiko Kinosita Award in Single-Molecule Biophysics

Nuria Assa-Munt Honored with 2026 Rosalba Kampman Distinguished Service Award

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.