Effect of maternal anemia on low birth weight babies at term in Phrae Hospital

Abstract

Background:   Low birth weight is the important public health problem in Thailand. The babies with low birth weight have a higher mortality and                                                morbidity rate and also increase risks of chronic diseases in adult life. Anemia during pregnancy is one of the causes of low birth weight,                                  which is related to preterm birth, babies Apgar score and fetal deaths.

Objective:        To study the relationship between anemia in pregnant women and birth weight of term babies in Phrae Hospital.

Study design: This retrospective cohort studied pregnant women who attended antenatal care and gave term birth at Phrae Hospital from September                                    2019 to April 2020, consisting of 542 people. The correlation analysis between low birth-weight babies and maternal anemia compared with                              mothers without anemia using Multivariable logistic regression and 95 % confidence interval.

Results:            Mothers with anemia in the first trimester and third trimester were at risk 2.78 and 3.47 times, respectively, when compared to mothers                                    without anemia with statistical significance (95% CI; 1.12-6.28 and 1.56-7.03 respectively) and when adjusting the influence, it was found                                    that mothers with anemia in the first and third trimester also found that the risk was 3.10 and 3.43 times respectively when compared with                              mothers without anemia with statistically significant (95% CI; 1.17-7.61 and 1.44-7.83 respectively).

Conclusions:  Mothers with anemia in the first trimester increase the risk of low birth weight babies. Every pregnant woman should come to the antenatal                            clinic for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Keywords:     Anemia in pregnancy, Low birth weight