Risk Factors for Preterm and Term Low Birthweight in Ahmedabad, India

Abstract

To identify and quantify risk factors for preterm and term low birthweight (LBW) we conducted a hospital-based case-control study, linked with a population survey in Ahmedabad, India. The case-control study of 673 term LBW, 644 preterm LBW cases and 1465 controls showed that low maternal weight, poor obstetric history, lack of antenatal care, clinical anaemia and hypertension were significant independent risk factors for both term and preterm LBW. Short interpregnancy interval was associated with an increased risk of preterm LBW birth while primiparous women had increased risk of term LBW. Muslim women were at a reduced risk of term LBW, but other socioeconomic factors did not remain significant after adjusting for these more proximate factors. Estimates of the prevalence of risk factors from the population survey was used to calculate attributable risk. This analysis suggested that a substantial proportion of term and preterm LBW births may be averted by improving maternal nutritional status, anaemia and antenatal care.

Socio-Biological Determinants of Low Birth Weight: A Community based study from rural field practice area of Medical College, Kolkata, West Bengal (India)

“…22 Our study showed Muslim mothers had more lbw babies might be due to some cultural factors might have played some negative birth effects and it was in contrast to the findings shown by Mavalankar DV et all in Ahmedabad, India where they found Muslim women were at much lower risk of lbw babies than Hindu mothers. 23 Similar to other studies, this study also found more proportion lbw were among illiterate and primarily educated mothers. 3,21,24,25 Reason cited behind this might be, lower level education might have associated with lower health awareness and health seeking behavior of the mothers.…”

“…),no.of antenatal visits ≥ 4,consumed extra diet & extra meal and Iron & Folic acid tablets ≥ 100,daily sleep & rest ≥ 10 hrs., taken 2 doses of Tetanus Toxoid, Institutional delivery had significantly lesser proportion of lbw babies. 3,15,16,19,21,23,24 We found that girls were more likely to be LBW infants than boys is in accordance with other study. 21 Mothers had regular bathing or brushing had more lbw babies, reason of which could not be explained.…”

“…Whereas a number of studies showed primipara mothers had maximum lbw babies. 1619,22,23,24 Similar to other studies this study also found mothers with early registration (≤ 12 wks. ),no.of antenatal visits ≥ 4,consumed extra diet & extra meal and Iron & Folic acid tablets ≥ 100,daily sleep & rest ≥ 10 hrs., taken 2 doses of Tetanus Toxoid, Institutional delivery had significantly lesser proportion of lbw babies.…”

“…20,21,24,26,27 We observed lesser proportion of lbw babies among hypertensive mothers which was contrary to the findings showed in other studies. 23,24,25 We could not explain this findings because scientifically it is natural that pregnancy induced hypertension resulted reduced placental perfusion thereby increased chance of lbw babies. This study was further analysed by binary logistic regression, findings of which supported that most of the predictor variables we studied significantly played the role of determinants of Low Birth Weight babies except Socio-Economic status, daily bathing or brushing, taken Tetanus Toxoid and presence of hypertension during pregnancy.…”

Validade do exame clínico do recém-nascido para a estimação da idade gestacional: uma comparação do escore New Ballard com a data da última menstruação e ultra-sonografia

“…Saúde Pública, Rio de Janeiro, 16(1):83-94, jan-mar, 2000 Introdução Apesar dos avanços alcançados pelos programas de investigação sobre os fatores de risco da prematuridade, a maioria dos nascimentos prematuros ainda não tem fisiopatogênese conhecida (Kramer, 1987;Kramer et al, 1988;Mavalankar et al, 1992;Fortier et al, 1995;Hedegaard et al, 1996;Lang et al, 1996). Dentre as principais dificuldades dessa linha de pesquisa, destaca-se a falta de consenso com relação aos indicadores e medidas usados para aferir alguns de seus potenciais fatores de risco e à estratégia padrão utilizada para seu diagnósti-co (Dunn, 1985;Henriksen et al, 1995).…”