Senate expenses climbed to $7.2 million in 2023, up nearly 30%
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
An increase in the number of small-for-gestational-age births—an important indicator of infant health—has been observed in data that goes back more than 20 years in Canada.
And while the reasons for this increase remain largely unclear, a University of British Columbia (UBC) report hypothesizes that systemic issues such as immigration, economic stress and increasing maternal age may play a role.
Using Statistics Canada data that tracked trends in birth weight and small-for-gestational-age births, or SGAs, births among all single-baby live births in Canada from 2000 to 2016, the researchers found the mean birth weight for all births decreased from 3,442 grams in 2000 to 3,367 grams in 2016.
During the same time period, the rate of SGA births increased from 7.2 per cent in 2000 to eight per cent in 2016, corresponding with a 12 per cent increase in the odds of having a smaller baby in 2016 compared to 2000.
“Historically in Canada, we knew that babies were actually getting bigger, specifically between 1978 and 1996. That trend, at the time, was explained by sociodemographic factors and also by changes in maternal body size and maternal smoking,” study author Shiraz El Adam told CTVNews.ca by phone Wednesday.
“We used the same rationale and looked at population-level factors that have been changing over time in Canada that we know are also linked to a higher risk of a smaller baby.”
The study took into consideration sociodemographic factors previously associated with lower birth weight, including the birthplace of the baby’s mother and father.
In some countries, particularly in Asia, healthy babies are naturally smaller than they are in North America. With the increase in immigration rates in Canada, researchers hypothesized that immigration might explain the domestic decline in birth weight.
Results from the modelling showed that the odds of an SGA birth were indeed higher among births to parents born outside of Canada—but that only explained part of the decline.
The odds of having a smaller baby were also higher for unmarried women, older women and those who lived in lower-income neighbourhoods. Yet still, when researchers adjusted for these factors, including changes in neighbourhood income to take into consideration the material environment that may impact expectant mothers, the trend couldn’t be fully explained.
“Despite accounting for the factors that we believe to be strongly correlated with the trend, we're still seeing this unexplained increase. And it appears to be consistent also with other countries, for example, the U.S. and in Germany and in Japan, and more recently in Italy,” said El Adam.
“They have tried to explain it as well in the U.S. and in Germany using similar factors and it also remains unexplained.”
While the study doesn’t draw a specific correlation between economic stressors and SGA births, the report notes that several other studies have looked at the negative financial hardship and stress can have on expectant mothers.
The World Health Organization also notes that adverse birth outcomes may be connected to larger macroeconomic factors, such as an economic recession.
The study notes that the findings show only a modest reduction in the mean birth weight of babies born in Canada, which may suggest that healthy babies are simply getting smaller over time—a factor researchers plan to evaluate in the next iteration of the study.
“[Birth weight] is a really good indicator for public health, and it's been monitored for years as an indicator. It's usually used as a proxy for a growth restriction, but in some cases small babies are small but healthy,” El Adam explained.
“So, I think at this point, the next step would be really to clarify is what's driving this trend small but healthy babies or a growth restriction. If it is a growth restriction, then it is really important to identify that because we know fetal growth restriction has not only short but long-term health and economic consequences.”
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Police say a baby and a pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a vehicle struck a baby stroller and dragged it for two blocks before stopping in Squamish, B.C.
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
The RCMP says it has uncovered a plot by two men in Montreal to sell Chinese drones and military equipment to Libya illegally.
The U.S. Justice Department announced a US$138.7 million settlement Tuesday with more than 100 people who accused the FBI of grossly mishandling allegations of sexual assault against Larry Nassar in 2015 and 2016, a critical time gap that allowed the sports doctor to continue to prey on victims before his arrest.
The Vancouver Canucks will be without all-star goalie Thatcher Demko when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
A 35-year-old man wanted in connection with the murder of Toronto resident 29-year-old Sharmar Powell-Flowers nine months ago has topped the list of the BOLO program’s 25 most wanted fugitives across Canada, police announced Tuesday.
The Canadian Medical Association is asking the federal government to reconsider its proposed changes to capital gains taxation, arguing it will affect doctors' retirement savings.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a Grade 4 student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.