Prevalence and immediate outcomes of low birth weight neonates born of pre-eclamptic women at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Kenya

Introduction: pre-eclampsia has been linked to poor neonatal outcomes such as; stillbirth, low birth weight (LBW), prematurity and neonatal morbidities owing to utero-placental insufficiency. The study objective was to determine the prevalence of LBW and immediate (within 24 hours) birth outcomes of LBW neonates born to pre-eclamptic women at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH), Kenya. Methods: a descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 364 participants (346 singletons and 9 twins) born to pre-eclamptic women at MTRH. A study tool was used to gather data on birth weight and neonatal outcomes. Data was cleaned, coded and entered into SPSS version 22 for analysis. Descriptive statistics were computed for the prevalence of LBW and immediate neonatal outcomes. Results: the study found an LBW prevalence of 180(49.5%) and prematurity of 81(45%). Of the LBW neonates (n=180), 162(90%) were alive and 18(10%) were stillbirths. Their immediate morbidities were, birth asphyxia 51(28.7%), neonatal jaundice 38(21%), hypothermia 18(7.9%) and neonatal sepsis 1(0.7%). Of the neonates that were born alive; 107(59.2% ) were admitted to level II nursery care, 53(29.5% ) were rooming in with their mothers and 20(11.3%) died within 24 hours. Conclusion: preeclampsia contributes to LBW, nursery admissions and morbidity/mortality of neonates necessitating the need for neonatal units' preparedness for prompt and appropriate management to avert death.