KEY FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH LOW BIRTH WEIGHT AT TERM IN NEPAL: A CASE CONTROL STUDY

Authors

  • Karuna Laxmi Shakya
  • Naveen Shrestha
  • Amod Kumar Poudyal
  • Rajendra Prasad Koju
  • Peter Oyloe
  • Sharad Raj Onta

Abstract

Background:Low Birth Weight (LBW) is a major public health problem in developing countries including Nepal. Nepal has a prevalence of LBW of 21%. There are various factors associated to high prevalence of LBW. This study aimed to identify specific factors associated to LBW at term in hospital settings in Nepal. Methodology: This study used a hospital based case control design. Hospital nurses interviewed mothers aged 15-45 years who had delivered a full term, single and live baby. Results: A total of 1533 respondents (511 cases and 1022 controls) were taken which is slightly more than the estimated sample size. The mean weight of newborns among case group was 2215 gm (SD:203); and among control group was 3012gm (SD:367). This study revealed that factors such as mothers under 20 years old (OR=1.436, 95% CI:1.074-1.920); height below 145cm (OR=1.504, 95% CI:1.087 -2.083); primigravida (OR=1.423, 95% CI:1.132-1.788); illiterate (OR=1.407 95% CI:1.011-1.957); <4 ANC visits (OR=1.534, 95% CI:1.202-1.957); and iron supplement <180 tabs (OR=1.434, 95% CI:1.152-1.786) were associated with LBW. However, variables like <20 years at the first pregnancy (OR=1.139, 95% CI: 0.904-1.433), disadvantaged ethnicity (OR=1.077, 95% CI: 0.861-1.347) were not associated with LBW in this study.Conclusion: Maternal height, education, number of ANC visits, and iron consumption were strong predictors for LBW in Nepal. It would benefit the country to develop effective strategies on maternal nutrition, female education, and quality ANC to overcome LBW.
KEYWORDS: Low Birth Weight; Socio-demographic and antenatal care, Case control design.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Downloads

Published

2015-04-15

Issue

Volume 1, Issue 2; April 2015

Section

Original Research Articles

License

The journal allows the author(s) to hold the copyright without restrictions and will retain publishing rights without restrictions.

The submitted papers are assumed to contain no proprietary material unprotected by patent or patent application; responsibility for technical content and for protection of proprietary material rests solely with the author(s) and their organizations and is not the responsibility of the journal. The main (first/corresponding) author is responsible for ensuring that the article has been seen and approved by all the other authors. It is the responsibility of the author to obtain all necessary copyright release permissions for the use of any copyrighted materials in the manuscript prior to the submission.

What are my rights as an author?
It is important to check the policy for the journal to which you are submitting or publishing to establish your rights as
Author. Journal's standard policies allow the following re-use rights:

  • The journal allows the author(s) to hold the copyright without restrictions.
  • The journal allows the author(s) to obtain publishing rights without restrictions.
  • You may do whatever you wish with the version of the article you submitted to the journal.
  • Once the article has been accepted for publication, you may post the accepted version of the article on your own personal website, your department's website or the repository of your institution without any restrictions.
  • You may not post the accepted version of the article in any repository other than those listed above (i.e. you may not deposit in the repository of another institution or a subject-matter repository) until 12 months after publication of the article in the journal.
  • You may use the published article for your own teaching needs or to supply on an individual basis to research colleagues, provided that such supply is not for commercial purposes.