Newborn birth weight: a trend towards positive paradigm shift in rural central India

Abstract

Background: Birth weight is one of the important determinants of neonatal wellbeing. It has many determinants including maternal nutritional status and gestational age. Low birth weight is associated with high neonatal and childhood mortality and morbidity. Over the years the birth weight is showing the increasing trend in developing countries like India. The study aimed at finding out the changing pattern of birth weight over a decade in rural India.Methods: Retrospective data of 43,114 births was collected through hospital information system. Neonatal birth weight was analyzed over a period of 10 years from 2007-2016. Demographic data was studied to study the determinants.Results: Over the period of 10 years, proportion of newborn with low birth weight (below 2500 grams) declined from 56.35 % to 43.65 %. The rise in mean birth weight was 147 gram in male infant and 114 grams in female. There was overall reduction in proportion of very low birth weight and extremely low birth weight babies. A linear relationship was observed between improved birth weight, socio economic status, age at marriage and maternal weight gain during pregnancy.Conclusions: A positive trend towards improved newborn birth weight was observed in study site of rural central India. Better antenatal care, improved maternal nutrition and improved social status of women in the community are the determinants found to have a positive correlation.