Maternal risk factors contributing for low birth weight babies at tertiary care hospitals of Lahore

Background: WHO defines LBW baby as the one which weighs less than 2500 gm irrespective of the gestational age. Above 20 million infants born all over the world, (representing 15.5% of all births) are low birth weight babies. Prevalence in developed countries is 6%, while in developing countries is 21%;as stated by UNICEF. Asia has the highest prevalence; an estimated 11million low birth weight babies are reported there. In Pakistan some of the studies show that the prevalence of low birth weight babies is as high as 25%.There are multiple factors significantly contributing to low birth weight babies. Aim: To identify the maternal risk factors and their association with low birth weight babies in tertiary care hospitals of Lahore. Method: An analytical cross sectional study was conducted among 360 full term low birth weight babies, delivered in Fatima Memorial Hospital & Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Lahore. Non probability convenient sampling technique was used. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. Data analysis was done by SPSS version 17.Chi square test of significance was applied to find out associations between maternal factors and LBW babies, the p value was fixed at >0.05 as significant. Results: Maternal age, iron supplementation intake ,lack of antenatal visits (less than 4 visits) and maternal hypertension are significant risk factors of LBW babies in our study. Maternal age has statistical significance as p=0.044.The age group of 25-29 years delivered 37.2% LBW babies and this was the highest proportion.Antenatal care of mother also showed significant result as the value of p=0.001 and the frequency of having LBW babies in mothers who did not receive complete antenatal care services came as 9.2%.Iron supplement intake also showed significant result with p=0.001 and frequency of having LBW babies in such pregnant women was found to be 18.9%.Maternal hypertension also showed significant result with p=0.029 and 17.5 % of pregnant hypertensive females gave birth to LBW babies. Calcium intake during pregnancy was also found to be significant at p=0.009 and 19.4% of pregnant females who gave birth to LBW babies did not take calcium supplements.