Saadia Ayub, Rafia Hussain, Ysana Taruq, Farrukh Zaman, Usman Khalid, Muhammad Khan, Nawal Noor.
Determinants of low birth weight.
Pak J Med Health Sci Jan ;13(4):728-32.

Background : WHO defines low birth weight as “birth weight of an infant of 2499 grams or less, regardless of gestational age”. The prevalence of LBW is considerably high in developing countries, with the highest prevalence in South Asia estimated to be 27%. In Pakistan it accounts for nearly 20% of all live births. Aim : To find the strength of association of various factors affecting low birth weight amongst infants Setting: Inpatient Gynaecology and Obstetrics Department, Ghurki Trust Teaching Hospital, Lahore Methodology: Cross -sectional study carried out from January to April 2019 with a sample size of 121 mothers who had delivered a single live neonate in the previous 24 hours. Mothers with multiple gestations or missing anthropometric data were excluded from the study. Study tool used was structured pretested questionnaire consisting of socio-demographic and obstetric variables. Results: Amongst the socio -demographic factors monthly family income (p=0.002) and maternal education (0.002) had significantly positive impact on birth weight of infant. Length of gestation had the most significant effect on birth weight (P=0.000). Equally significant was number of antenatal visits undertaken by the mother (P=0.016). Other antenatal factors, used to assess adequacy of antenatal care, also proved to be significantly associated (P<0.05) with birth weight. Conclusion: Our study showed that more educated mothers were less likely to have LBW infants while mothers who received adequate antenatal care were also less likely to have LBW infants. This confirms the absolute necessity of having widespread antenatal service provision for pregnant mothers.

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