A cross sectional study for utilisation of antenatal care services and its association to birth weight of babies in a tertiary care centre in Western India

Abstract

Background: Low birth weight is a major public health problem in India. Amongst several factors affecting birth weight, the two crucial factors are demographic characteristics of mothers and utilisation of antenatal care services. Identification of these bottlenecks will help in forming suitable strategies to mitigate the problem of low birth weight in developing countries.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in a medical college hospital of Gujarat. All the mothers admitted in maternity ward for delivery during July 2017 and had given informed consent, were involved in the study. Interview consisted of demographic characteristic of mothers, utilisation of antenatal services and records of pregnancy outcome. Data were entered in excel 2010 and analysed using Epi info 7.2. Strength of association between LBW and risk factors was obtained using odds ratio test.Results: Majority of the mothers had registered for antenatal care within the first trimester (78%) and had taken minimum of four ANC visits (93%). One fifth (18%) of the mothers had babies weighing less than 2.5 kgs. Lower education status of mothers, multigravida, and mothers with less than four ANC visits, preterm births and female foetus were significantly at higher risk of low birth weight as compared to their counterparts.Conclusions: The factors determining LBW were lower education status of mothers, multigravidity, inadequate ANC visits, preterm births and female sex of foetus. We recommend that increasing the education status of masses, particularly of females and ensuring adequate ANC utilisation will reduce the problem of LBW.