Maternal Factors for Low Birth Weight Babies

Abstract

Introduction L ow birth weight (LBW) is the dominating risk factorfor infant morbidity and mortality, (36% of all mortality in children <5 years of age), constituting about 4 million deaths per year. Some term and preterm small babies are healthy, with weight and length according to their genetic potential, while others are smaller due to factors impeding growth during fetal life. This phenomenon is called intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and is the second leading cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality, after prematurity.Low birth weight lower than that expected from the genetic potential might be caused by fetal, maternal or placental factors or a combination of risk factors, resulting in an impaired placental transport of nutrients or reduced growth potential of the fetus. Constitutional, gender and hereditary factors explain up to 40% of the variability of birth weight. Maternal age (<20 or >35 yrs), ethnicity, marital status, birth interval, educational level and socio-economic conditions are other explanatory factors. Common fetal factors are genetic and/or chromosomal aberrations. Medical risk factors for LBW before pregnancy are chronic conditions like hypertension, renal insufficiency, cardio-respiratory, autoimmune, endocrine or infectious disorders. The risk factors for LBW during pregnancy are hypertensive disorders, diabetes, malnutrition, bleeding, anemia, infection, placental or fetal anomalies and multiple pregnancies. The morbidities of term and moderately preterm (>32 weeks) LBW are mainly related to uteroplacental insufficiency and poor energy substrate transfer, resulting in neonatal complications like birth asphyxia, hypothermia, meconium aspiration, polycythaemia, hypoglycemia, hypocalcaemia and thrombocythaemia.LBW infants are forty times more likely to die within their first four weeks of life than normal birth weight infants. LBW infants are also three times more likely than normal birth weight infants to have neurodevelopmental complications and congenital abnormalities [1].The neonatal course in LBW infants born preterm (<32 weeks) is dominated by complications caused by anatomic and physiological immaturity e.g. birth asphyxia, hypothermia, respiratory distress due to delayed alveolar clearance of water and surfactant deficiency, delayed postnatal circulatory adaptation with pulmonary hypertension, systemic hypotension and delayed closure of fetal shunts. Immaturity and reduced substrate stores explain high prevalence of hypo/ hyperglycemia, jaundice and coagulopathy. Immature Maternal Factors for Low Birth Weight BabiesLt Col G Singh * , Capt R Chouhan + , Maj K Sidhu # Abstract Background: Low birth weight is defined as the live births with less than 2.5 kg weight. It is a key determinant of infant survival, health and development. Low birth weight infants are at a greater risk of having a disability and for diseases such as cerebral palsy, visual problems, learning disabilities and respiratory problems. To reduce the low birth weight deliveries, we studied the maternal fac...

An Epidemiological Model Investigating the Association between Mothers Nutritional Status and Low Birth Weight in India

“…Low birth weight (LBW) is the dominating risk factor for infant morbidity and mortality. LBW infants were three times more likely than normal birth weight infants to have neuro developmental complications and congenital abnormalities [1]. The prevalence of low birth weight (LBW) is higher in Asia than elsewhere, predominantly because of under nutrition of the mother prior to and during pregnancy [2].…”

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“…Singh et al, in their study reported, in preeclampsia, anemia was not significant and by reducing plasma volume, reduces the supply of nutrient to the fetus thus affecting fetal growth. The preeclampsia syndrome and low birth weight having the correlation with low hemoglobin level 16 . Boehm et al, in their study suggested the evidences that due to platelet agreeability, the platelet count lower in the whole blood.…”

Prevalence of Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes: A Community Based Longitudinal Study

“…However, the prevalence of low birth weight varied in different studies. A study conducted by Velankaret al 9 , in urban slums of Mumbai, India showed that the percentage of mothers who gave birth to low birth weight babies were 42.5%. In a retrospective study conducted by Singh et al, 10 in Amritsar, India from July 2005 to Jun 2006, the frequency of low birth weight babies was 6.16%.…”