Relationship among Antenatal Care Practices and Socioeconomic Factors with Birth Weight of Neonates in Dhaka City

Abstract

Low birth weight is a curse for child. Consequences of low birth weight are immense. The aim of this study was to find out the relationship among pre-pregnancy nutritional status, maternal height and birth weight of neonates in Dhaka City. Cross sectional analytical study was conducted for the survey and data were collected through questionnaire-based face-to-face interviews, for lactating mothers who had at least one baby. Nutritional status was determined by WHO cut off value. Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used for data analysis. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Information of anthropometry, socioeconomic and birth weight were collected within January, 2014 to December, 2016. The current study found that 23.8% children born with LBW, 72.2% with NBW and 4.0% with HBW. On the other hand, 37.8% mother was tall, 47.85% was average and 14.4% was short. Besides 55.8% of the mothers had normal BMI whereas 13.5% were underweight before pregnancy. Half of the children were malnourished (MUAC). About 67.39% of NBW children were given birth by mothers having aged between 20 to 30years. Therefore, PPNS and maternal height was found to be associated with birth weight and MUAC of children. Moreover, birth weight of the children was related with nutritional status (MUAC) of children. Parents’ education, maternal age, family income and dietary expenditure also had a relationship with birth weight in this study. It is concluded that maternal height is related with birth weight of neonates and may become a useful indicator for other countries.