Factors associated with low birthweight among newborns delivered at public health facilities of Nekemte town, West Ethiopia: a case control study

Abstract

Background Low birthweight (LBW) remains the most important risk factor which attributed to mortality of 15–20% of newborns across the globe. An infant with low birthweight is more likely to have stunting in childhood and develop markers of metabolic risk factors at his later age. Furthermore, LBW is a risk for inter-generational assaults of malnutrition as it is the risk for sub optimal growth until adulthood, affecting women’s and male’s reproductive capabilities. Thus, there is enough concern to study the determinants of LBW across different settings. Accordingly, this study was conducted to assess the determinants of low birthweight s in public health facilities of Nekemte town, West Ethiopia. Methods Facility based unmatched case control study was employed from February to April 2017. The data were collected using structured, pretested interviewer administered questionnaire in all public health facilities of Nekemte town. Consecutive live births of less than 2500 g in each of the hospitals and health centres were selected as cases and succeeding babies with weights of at least 2500 g as controls. Data were entered in to Epi-data software version 3.1 and exported to SPSS Version 21 and analyzed using frequency, cross-tabs and percentage. Factors with p -value < 0.25 in Bivariate analysis were entered in to multivariable logistic regression and statistical significance was considered at p -value < 0.05. Result A total 279 (93 cases &186 controls) were included in the study with a mean birthweight of 2138.3 g ± SD 206.87 for cases and 3145.95 g ± SD 415.98 for controls. No iron-folate supplementation (AOR = 2.84, 95% CI, 1.15–7.03), no nutritional counselling (AOR = 4.05, 95%CI, 1.95–8.38), not taking snacks (AOR =3.25, 95%CI, 1.64–6.44), maternal under nutrition (AOR =5.62, 95%CI, 2.64–11.97), anemia (AOR = 3.54, 95%CI, 1.46–8.61) and inadequate minimum dietary diversity score of women MDDS-W (AOR = 6.65, 95%CI, 2.31–19.16) were factors associated with low birthweight . Conclusion Lacking nutrition counselling during pregnancy, lacking iron/folic acid supplementation during pregnancy, not taking snacks during pregnancy, maternal under-nutrition, maternal anemia and inadequate minimum dietary diversity score of women (MDDS-W) were independently associated with LBW. Thus, public health intervention in the field of maternal and child health should address these determinants.

Maternal genitourinary infections and poor nutritional status increase risk of preterm birth in Gasabo District, Rwanda: a prospective, longitudinal, cohort study

“…It is possible that anemia diagnosed in early pregnancy exerts stronger associations with pregnancy outcomes in terms of PTB as compared to anemia diagnosed later in pregnancy [42,43]. We also found an association of inadequate dietary diversity with LBW; these results are in agreement with previous studies, including a cohort from Norway [10] and Ethiopia [44], in which poor dietary intake was associated with an increased risk of PTB and low birthweight. Our study did not find an association between PTB and maternal iron or folate levels.…”

“…This was not surprising, as all pregnant women in Rwanda receive iron and folate supplements during antenatal care, and thus, anemia when present, is less likely to be due to iron deficiency, suggesting that other deficits such as Viba-minB12 or Selenium might be contributing to the low level of hemoglobin. Low maternal MUAC was also associated with PTB, and maybe a better indication of maternal malnutrition; this is consistent with the results of other studies from sub-Saharan Africa [44,45].…”

Determinants of low birth weight among live birth newborns delivered at public hospitals in Gamo Gofa Zone, South Ethiopia: Unmatched case control study

“…[10][11][12] Study on determinant factors of LBW is important for planning child health care services and to improve the survival of LBW babies. However, there are only few published studies in Ethiopia on the assessment of LBW 13 and there is paucity of information related to the determining factors of LBW. Even the available studies did not address the broader determinants of LBW.…”

Effects of guided counseling during pregnancy on birth weight of newborns in West Gojjam Zone, Ethiopia: a cluster-randomized controlled trial

“…Poor maternal diet is one of the several contributing factors to LBW [15][16][17][18]. Women who did not take an adequate meal during pregnancy were more likely to have LBW neonate than their counterparts [19][20][21][22][23]. Despite its serious consequences on birth weight and other birth outcomes, nutrient intakes of Ethiopian pregnant women were less than the recommended amounts for several key nutrients [24,25].…”