Central Data Catalog

The study aimed at identifying and quantifying determinants of low birth weight (LBW) by
following a community based prospective cohort
of pregnant women in 45 villages in Pune
district. In the 1922 live births born to mothers
without a chronic illness, in whom birth weight
was available within 24 hours, the cumulative
incidence of LBW(<2500 g) was 29%. The unadjusted relative risks for LBW were significantly higher for lower socio-economic status
(RR=1.71), maternal age less than 20 years
(RR=1.27), primiparity (RR=1.32>, last pregnancy interval less than 6 months (RR=1.48),
non-pregnant weight less than 40 kg (RR=1.3),
height below 145 cm (RR=1.51), hemoglobin
less than 9 g/dl (RR=1.53) and third trimester
bleeding (RR=1.87). Multivariate logistic regression analyis showed that the adjusted odds
ratio for LBW decreased with increasing gestational duration, non-pregnant weight, parity and
rising education level of the mother.
Socio-economic status, non-pregnant
weight, maternal height, and severe anemia in
pregnancy had substantial attributable risk percent for LBW(41.4%, 22.9%, 29.5% and34.5%,
respectively). The findings suggest that selectively targetted interventions such as improving
maternal education and nutrition, specifically
anemia, wider availability of contraception to Birth weight are an important predictor of
perinatal and neonatal survival(l). However, much of the information available on
low birth weight (LBW) in India is hospital-based(2,3). This study was undertaken to
identify and quantify the risk factors for
LBW using a community based prospective
cohort study.