Risk Factors for Low Birth Weight among Neonates Delivered in Public Health Facilities in Adama Town, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

Author(s): Nigusse Obse Nebi, Tolossa Eticha Chaka, Tilaye Workineh Abebe, Ephrem Mannekulih M

Back ground: Low birth weight is the major predictor of prenatal mortality and morbidity worldwide. It has been defined by the World Health Organization as weight at birth of less than 2,500 grams irrespective of their gestational age. Rate of low birth weight is still high in developing countries like Ethiopia particularly Oromia regional state where adequate primary health care services for maternal and child health are not universally available to all the populations. It is therefore imperative to identify risk factors for low birth weight in various communities in order to come up with feasible intervention strategies to minimize the problem.

Methods: Facility based case-control study design was conducted from June-1/2017 to April-30/2018 on 318 mothers with singleton and full term neonates (108 case to 210 control). Semi structured interviewer administered and pretested questionnaire was used by trained data collectors working in delivery ward. The data were entered and analyzed by using statistical software. Descriptive and bivariate analysis was done.

Result: The mean maternal age of all study participants was 26.7 years with [SD of 4.8] with mean age for mothers of cases was 25.5 years and for controls was 27.4 years. In bivariate analysis residency being rural (AOR= 1.95 with 95% CI (1.0-3.48), parity ≥2 (AOR= 3.45 (1.89-6.32), number of antenatal care attendance <4 visits (AOR= 0.40(0.218-0.73)), birth interval <24 moths (AOR= 2.68 (1.45-4.94), history of hypertension (AOR= 0.39(0.18-0.87) and maternal MUAC <21cm (AOR=0.38 (0.159-0.91) were found to be statistically significant.

Conclusions: Variables that were found to have a statically significant relationship with low birth weight were residency being rural, occupation, parity ≥2 & birth interval ≤24months, number of antenatal care attendance <4 visits, history of hypertension and maternal MUAC <21cm were found to be statistically significant.