College of Health Sciences

Department of Public Health

ASSIGNMENT
COVER SHEET

Course name: Introduction to Biostatistics

Course number: PHC 121

26321
CRN
Use the provided dataset to answer the following questions: Q1- Q3

Assignment title or task:
(You can write a
question)
Q1. Write a statistical summary report about the data sets (Include variables birth wt.
(kg), infant gender & prenatal status of mother)?
Mark -3
Q2. Compute most suitable measure of central tendency & dispersion to report the
variable “Birth weight of infant”
Mark –
2
Q3. What is the appropriate statistical test to identify any significant difference in
mean birth weight of male and female infant? Mention the important assumptions of
the selected test? Mark
–2

Q4. Discuss regression analysis and mention its applications in health research
with an appropriate example? Marks -
3

Student name: XXXXX

Student ID: XXXXX
Submission date: XXXXX

Instructor name: Dr. Mohammed Alkharaiji

 College of Health Sciences
Department of Public Health

Grade: …. Out of 10

Q1. Statistical Summary Report:

• The average birth weight of infants is 2.7 kg, with the majority falling around 2.8 kg.
• The smallest baby weighed 2.0 kg, while the largest weighed 4.0 kg.
• The birth weight of babies varies on average by about 0.63 kg (The Standard deviation).
• The distribution of birth weight leans slightly towards babies being born with slightly higher
weights.
• Among the newborns, 53.2% are boys, while 46.8% are girls.
• Half of the mothers smoked during pregnancy, while the other half did not.
• There is a weak negative correlation (-0.37) between birth weight and maternal smoking
status, suggesting that smoking during pregnancy may have a slight impact on the weight of
the baby.

Q2. Measures of Central Tendency:

 The mean birth weight of infants is 2.79 kg, indicating the typical weight of newborns.
 The median birth weight is 2.8 kg, representing the middle value in the distribution.
Measures of Dispersion:
 The standard deviation of birth weight is 0.63 kg, reflecting the average amount of variation
in weight among newborns.
 The range of birth weight spans from 2.0 kg to 4.0 kg, showing the full extent of the weights
observed.

Q3. To examine if there is a significant difference in the mean birth weight

we can employ the Independent Samples t-test. This statistical test allows us to compare the means
of two distinct groups.
the assumptions should be met:
• Birth weight, our dependent variable, needs to be measured on a continuous scale.
• The independent variable, gender, should consist of two distinct and independent groups.
• It is important to ensure no significant outliers are present in either group.
• The distribution of birth weight among each gender group should be approximately
normally distributed.
 College of Health Sciences
Department of Public Health

• Variances should be homogeneous across the two groups.

Q4. Regression analysis is a valuable statistical technique utilized to model and understand the
relationship between variables in health research.
It allows researchers to:
• Evaluate the strength and direction of the relationship between variables, such as birth
weight and factors like prenatal smoking or maternal age.
• Predict the birth weight of infants based on the values of independent variables, enabling us
to estimate the weight of newborns under specific conditions.
• Account for potential confounding variables that might influence the relationship between
the variables of interest, such as controlling for maternal age and pre-pregnancy weight
when examining the impact of maternal smoking on birth weight.
Example:
The impact of smoking during pregnancy on infant birth weight, regression analysis can be
employed to examine this relationship while considering other factors like maternal age and pre-
pregnancy weight. By employing regression analysis, we can better comprehend the effect of
smoking on birth weight and subsequently develop public health interventions aimed at reducing
smoking during pregnancy.

Refences:
[1] Aarestrup, J., Bjerregaard, L. G., Meyle, K. D., Pedersen, D. C., Gjærde, L. K., Jensen, B. W., &
Baker, J. L. (2020). Birthweight, childhood overweight, height and growth and adult cancer risks: a
review of studies using the Copenhagen School Health Records Register. International Journal of
Obesity, 44(7), 1546-1560. academia.edu
[2] Jana, A., Saha, U. R., Reshmi, R. S., & Muhammad, T. (2023). Relationship between low birth
weight and infant mortality: evidence from National Family Health Survey 2019-21, India.
Archives of Public Health. springer.com

[3] Arashi, M., Roozbeh, M., Hamzah, N. A., & Gasparini, M. (2021). Ridge regression and its
applications in genetic studies. Plos one. plos.org

[4] Abonazel, M. R., & Taha, I. M. (2023). Beta ridge regression estimators: simulation and
application. Communications in Statistics-Simulation and Computation, 52(9), 4280-4292. [HTML]