Risk Factors of Low Birth Weight Newborns in Somdetphraphutthalertla Hospital

Abstract

One of the major public health problems inThailandis the higher mortality and morbidity rates among low birth weight newborns compared to their counterparts with normal birth weight.  A case-control study thus sought better understanding on the risk factors for low birth weight newborns.  For this studies, 1,409 mothers who delivered live birth newborns between October 1, 2006 and September 30, 2007 at Somdetphraphutthalertla hospital in Samut Songkhram province were included.  This retrospective study compared 115 mothers who delivered newborns with birth weight under 2,500 grammes with the control group of mothers of consecutive babies whose birth weight was more than 2,500 grammes.  Data were collected from delivery and patient medical records at the hospital and were subsequently analyzed using Chi- square test, odds ratio, and 95% confidence interval.  The study showed that the low birth weight rate was 8.16 percent.  The following risk factors were found to be statistically significant: gestational age < 37 weeks (OR21.276, 95%CI 9.989, 45.318), leakage of amniotic fluid (OR.  12.058, 95%CI 1.530, 95.012), pregnancy induced hypertension (OR 10.485, 95%CI 2.373, 46.328), maternal weight before pregnancy < 45 kilograms (OR3.663, 95%CI 2.062, 6.506), maternal weight gain during pregnancy < 10 kilograms (OR3.137, 95%CI 1.831, 5.374), maternal height < 150 centimeters(OR 3.043, 95%CI 1.433, 6.463), maternal Body Mass Index < 20 kilograms.  /m2 (OR 2.217, 95%CI 1.281, 3.837), and the incidence of twins in pregnancy (OR 2.055, 95%CI1.796, 2.351).  Complete antenatal care in compliance with the World Health Organization standard was found to be a statistically significant preventive factor (OR 0.458, 95%CI.  0.270, 0.778).  On the other hand, maternal age, education, occupation, medical conditions, gravidity, previous bad obstetric histories, history of abortion, antipartum hemorrhage, anemia in pregnancy, and placental abnormalities were found not to be significantly associated with the low birth weight of newborns.  More attention should be given to pregnant women with the cited risk factors and efforts should be made to identify the causes and how to prevent pre-term delivery in order to minimize the risks of low birth weight newborns and their unpleasant outcomes.