Background: Neonatal mortality remains high in many developing country settings mainly because of low birth weight (LBW) or preterm births (PTB). Easy-to-use anthropometric parameters like foot length which are appropriate for resource-limited settings are necessary, to guarantee these neonates are distinguished and alluded as required for extra care. This research aimed to estimate the sensitivity and specicity, and the positive and negative predictive values of newborn foot length to identify babies who are LBWand PTB. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study of newborn babies in a tertiary care hospital was carried out between July to September 2018. Foot length, birth weight and gestational age were estimated on the rst day of life. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted to determine the operational cut-offs. Results: In hospital 150 babies were recruited and measured within 24 hours of birth. Of the 150 babies, 21 (14.00%) were born LBW (<2500 grams) and 77 (51.33%) were PTB. Mean foot length on the rst day was 7.62 ± 0.47 cm. Day one average foot length 7.32 cm at birth was 84.5% (77.70 – 89.89) sensitive and 90.5% (84.64 – 94.68) specic to identify birth weight ≥2500 grams; foot length 7.47 cm had sensitivity and specicity of 76.70% (69.11 – 83.21) and 49.4% (41.15 – 57.68) to identify those having term births. Conclusion: Measurement of newborn foot length for home births in resource-limited settings has the potential to be used by birth attendants, community health workers so that vulnerable newborns can be identied and receive targeted interventions for improved survival.
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