DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2014.v02i02.012

Pages: 539-547

Low birth weight is an important factor that affects infant’s morbidity and mortality. It is associated with infant’s physiology, psychology, behavior and learning process during childhood. It is also determinant factors for future chronic health problems. The objective of this study was to investigate the association of maternal obstetric and morbidity factors with infant birth weight. In this study, a total of 343 newborns and their mothers were enrolled. The mean birth weight was 2755 ± 466 g. We found that multi-para had highest incidence of low birth weight (35.7%) and incidence of low birth weight was found higher among mothers who had started antenatal check up at 3rd trimester. Highest incidence of low birth weight (100%) was found among mothers having systolic blood pressure up to 99.9 mm Hg and lowest (16.2%) among mothers having systolic blood pressure ≥140 mm Hg. Incidence of low birth weight was 32.5% among mothers who had urinary tract infection and 24.9% who were normal. Incidence of low birth weight was highest (35.5%) when haemoglobin level was <9 g/dl and lowest (13.2%) when the level was ≥ 11. In conclusion this study we found that maternal obstetric and morbidity factors influences birth weight of newborns.